When we Were Young!
by MaggieFrost
Summary: We watched as our Original Tree Hill teenagers worked through highschool now it's time to watch the next generation go through the ups and downs of teenhood.
1. Chapter 1

_When We Were Young – Chapter one _

"Hey Lydia" he whispered across to her as she chewed on the end of her pencil trying so hard to not fall asleep at the boring rant that Mr Morris seemed to be on this morning, she turned to him with what she assumed was a highly unattractive look on her face with half her mouth arched up as the other one crunched down on the pencil.

"Hey Jude" she said realising that the pencil was still in her mouth and quickly yanking it out.

"Did I tell you about how much I like your hair like that, and that fantastic poncho?" he asked her as she out of instinct put her hand in her hair

"I don't think you have" she said as the beginning of a goofy grin developed on her face

"Well I am telling you now" he said with his lips pursed in the way they usually were, with his eyes burrowing deep into her soul

"Thanks" she said with a smile before turning back to the front of the room

"Kiss me now Lydia Bob Scott" he said as she turned back to him fast enough to hurt her neck, she was shocked

"Lydia, Lydia, Lydia" Davis said poking her and whispering "Are you alright?" he asked as Lydia realised that she was sitting in Mr Morris' English class still chewing her pencil as she sat wedge between the two Baker boys

"Lyds?" he said with this piercing whisper and concern in his voice

"What?" she whispered across to him

"You okay? You sort of zoned out" his eyes were piercing into her that way that she had imagined Jude's too.

So she zoned out, that was all, that's what she would call it "Yeah I am fine just tired of the constant ranting" she said indicating to the front of the classroom, he seemed satisfied with that answer and turned back to the front of the classroom, so now it was time for Lydia to analyse it for herself ' okay lets analyse it, I've known Jude Baker for my whole life, spare those couple of first months, okay Lydia stop rambling, I don't feel that way about him, it is just hot in here and I am a tad delirious, there is probably led in this pencil" she said throwing it down on the table 'it was nothing' she told herself.

"Oy Lydiosa" whispered Jude, oh god just that husky yet gentle voice that came out of him made her swoon like crazy

"Yes Jude" she said taking charge of her hormones and talking as calmly and softly as she possibly could

"What's with the poncho?" he asked as he pointed to the poncho that Lydia had found in the attic that had belonged to her mum she didn't know that until she had walked downstairs with it on and her father cracked up 'I remember that ridiculous poncho' and her mother yelled from the kitchen 'It is not ridiculous'

"Do you like it?" all her nerves were flying

"It's weird"

"Weird like?"

"Weird, weird" he responded with this look on his face as he looked from Lydia to the teacher and then back again

"I like it" Davis whispered over her shoulder

"Thanks Davis" she said turning her head to the other twin her best friend

"Lydia Scott" Mr Morris said directing away from his rant and to the girl that sat in the third row

"I'm sorry sir" she said with this look of embarrassment on her face as he turned around and she sunk back into her sear

"Sorry sir" Jude whispered into her ear in a mocking tone

"Shut up Jude" she said with a giggle before forcing herself to stop and turning serious, wondering what the hell was going on.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia ran up the steps to her aunty and uncles home, she ran into the kitchen, greeting Peyton and Brooke, she then pointed upwards and ran up the stairs as her aunties nodded a nod of conformation, Lydia walked up the hallway to the familiar bedroom door that she knocked on ever so frequently, she didn't even wait for a response she just walked in "Sawyer?"

"In here" a muffled voice said as Lydia walked over to the double closet looking down at her cousin who was sitting down surrounded by cd's and cushions painting her toenails, she looked up at her cousin and best friend "What is up  
>L-Bob?" she said before looking back down at her toes.<p>

"I'm having a problem"

"Sit down" Sawyer said leaning past her toes and clearing a space for Lydia on the floor before indicating for her to sit down "What happened?"

"I don't know what is going on one minute I am looking at him like I always do and the next I am completely zoning out on him in English, I don't know what had happened to me, I used to be so put together, and my mother is going to be so disappointed"

"Lydia snap out of it, who are you talking about?"

"Jude" she said putting her head in her hands

"You're digging on Jude Baker" her cousin said with a laugh and an approving nod

"Digging on?" her cousin asked her with this look on her face.

"That doesn't matter" she said referring to her cousins clear teasing of the statement that she had just made

"I wouldn't say that I am 'digging on' him, I just feel funny when he talks to me and sometimes when he looks at me" she said before her older cousin broke into hysterical giggles. "What? Stop laughing" Lydia said again putting her head in her hands, peaking through the cracks to her smiley cousin.

"Lydi-Loo has a crush on Jude Baker"

"What do I do?"

"You want to know what you do?" she said as Lydia looked up at her and nodded "You tell him how you feel you dork" Sawyer said with a smile.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia stormed into the café, threw her bag on the floor and slumped down in a chair with her cousin's, Sawyer with her curly hair tied up in a bun and Lily with her gorgeous long black hair lying on her shoulders and her feet up on one of the spare chairs. Sawyer turned to her cousin with this look on her face as Lydia refused to meet her eyes.

"Boys suck" she said looking down at the table as Sawyer instantly recognised what the issue was and put a supportive hand on her back

"What happened?" Lily said not knowing what was going on and desperately wanting too.

"Did you tell him?" she asked ignoring her Aunt to get the bottom of the issue

"Tell him?" Lily asked again trying to get Intel

"Jude, Lydia like Jude" Sawyer said as quickly as she could to fill her in so that they could both concentrate on what was up with Lydia

"Did you tell him?" Sawyers plan seemed to work, it certainly spiked Lily's curiosity.

"Yes I did tell him, and do you know what he said?" finally looking up from the table

"Uh-oh" Lily said predicting that this was going to be bad

"He said 'okay'"

"What did he say?" said Sawyer

"Okay, he said Okay" she said looking from Sawyer to Lily and their looks of confusion and realisation

"Just okay?" Lily said after getting the nod to ask from Sawyer

"Yep, all he said was okay" she said feeling tears well up in her eyes and looking back down at the table.

"I'm going to get you some ice-cream, probably a whole tub. I think you need it babe" Lily said standing up and walking to the kitchen as Sawyer sat on her knees rubbing Lydia's back, Lily caught her mother's eye over the counter and gave her the signal that there was a desperate need for some comfort food. Lily had always been close with Sawyer, all those years that they had spent away from Tree Hill had caused that, Sawyer was like her little sister, and ever since moving back to Tree Hill she had become increasingly closer to Jamie Scott and with that meant closeness to Lydia Scott as Jamie and Lydia were incredibly close themselves.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Within an hour Lydia had eaten a pint of ice-cream and cried a pint of tears, this was the first time that she had poured her heart and soul out to a boy and it felt like he had set it on fire and then jumped all over it. Karen and Sawyer were holding one of Lydia's hands each, as they all told her horror stories of when they had poured their hearts out to boys themselves. They were so engulfed within their own conversation when Haley walked in with Izzy and Brooke by her side, Brooke walked over to the counter as Haley and Izzy walked over to the table, Haley had this look of complete concern on her face

"What happened?" Haley said as Karen stood up and let Haley sit down next to her daughter.

"Boy troubles" Sawyer said across to Haley as her own mother and sister walked in and over

"Boys suck" Peyton chanted "Believe me I know"

"If a boy is stupid enough to not want Lydia Bob Scott then not only is he not worth your time or your tears but he is a major idiot" Brooke said walking back over to them from the storage room with black dress protectors over her shoulder, oblivious to the fact that it was her son that had cause these tears.

"What do you have there Aunty Brooke?" Sawyer said trying to change the subject for Lydia

"Well Blondie that shares my name, I'm glad you asked, I decided that since I seem to be surrounded by teenagers I'm going to design a Teen brand."

"Oh B. Davis that is so fantastic" Peyton said throwing an arm over Brooke's shoulder

"So I thought that my girlies could give me a bit of a fashion show with the stuff that I have already started?" she said with her persuasive smile that Peyton knew oh so well. All the girls jumped at the chance to model the clothes and rushed to the back room with dress protectors over their shoulders, everyone except Lydia who put her head down on her mother's shoulder, Haley turned her head and kissed the top of her daughters head. "Lydi why aren't you going?" she said as she tussled the girl's hair.

"I just don't feel like it"

"Lydia Bob get your ass up here" Sawyer yelled up the café

"Gosh my daughter speaks like an angel" Peyton said with a laugh as Sawyer walked up the hallway again, standing in front of Lydia.

"Come on Lydia" she said leaning down in front of her best friend "You know you want to" she said with a smile as Lydia managed to return it.

"Fine" Lydia said not wanting to be the party pooper, also knowing full well that Sawyer wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"YAY" Sawyer yelled as she stood up and grabbed Lydia's hands and dragged her up to the back room.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jude sat on the stands at the river court his mind in a completely different space, his uncles, cousins, brother and dad were standing ahead of him, some playing basketball some just watching and while usually he would be on the court throwing the ball around and having a blast this afternoon his mind was with Lydia Scott, she had walked up to him in the middle of the hallway near his locker and asked him to take a walk with her, nothing about her request had shocked him they were friends, he could tell she was nervous and her brown eyes glistened so he knew that she was about to burst into tears, so he sat her down on a bench and asked her what was going on, she looked at him and smiled and told him something he had never ever expected to come out of his mate Lydiosa's mouth and all he could manage to get out was 'okay' and the moment the word left his lips he felt horrible, and at that point he had tried to talk to her but she had told him that she had to be somewhere and quickly left, he knew full well that she was going to cry and he wanted to hit himself.

"What's on your mind kid?" he said drawing Jude out of his own mind, Jude looked up and smiled at his dad.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Peyton and Haley shut the blinds halfway down and switched the open sign to closed, Karen cleaned the bench and put the plates in the dish bat, While Brooke fitted the girls into various outfits.

"Okay are you ready to rock?" Brooke said turning the music on as the adults sat down on the outer edge of the cafe. The girls strutted out one at a time to I'm too sexy.

When Izzy finished strutting for the second time all five girls came out and bowed to their applauding family laughed.

"Oh my god can you remember the sparkle classic and dancing to this?"

"Sexy Kung Fu fighter let me take you higher"

"Can you remember the moves?" said Peyton before they all broke into hysteric laughter and dancing.

The young girls soon joined in and by the chorus they were on the bench dancing like mental with their mums and family directing them, throwing out some classic moves.

With that Julian and the two Davis boys walked into the cafe. Julian smiled and joined in with his wife. The twin boys stood next to each other in the doorway.

"Is that Lydia?" Davis questioned his brother looking on

"Yeah"

"She looks hot" Davis said before walking off and being hoisted onto the bench by the girls and dancing

"She sure does" Jude said looking at her with his heart beating as fast as it did when he was in charge of scoring the winning basket.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia had let it all go at Karen's, just had some fun she wasn't one for moping about but she felt things severely and while she wished it hadn't but this whole Jude thing had knocked her off her block. She was lying in bed when her mum came into the room and opened the curtain she threw a pillow over her head and her mum smirked before jumping down on the bed next to her.

"Lydi Boo it's time to get up" she said with a hand on Lydia as she mumbled "It's time to go to school" and with that Lydia threw the pillow off her face and looked at her mum with her teary eyes, she could see the concern in her mums eyes as she sat up.

"I can't face him mama, I poured all my feelings out and he just dismissed them all and now I am going to have to spend the whole day with him, how am I supposed to do that?" she said as tears streamed down her face and her mum's eyes glistened as well.

"Today you are going to stay home and you are going to spend it crying kid okay?" she said as Lydia looked at her and nodded "But by the time I get home from the café tonight there will be no more tears, you will pick yourself up and dust yourself off and you will move on" she said before kissing both her daughters cheeks, smiling and leaving the room, Haley knew what her daughter was feeling, like many other women and girls would also, and while it upset Haley to see her daughter so upset it was something that Lydia just had to go through and get through.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Today Nathan was supposed to be at work but when Haley went to take the kids to school and he didn't see his daughter go with them and Haley told him that she was staying home he had called Clay at the office and told him he just couldn't go in today. Haley had told him not to bother Lydia for a while, to let her come down but after an hour he couldn't take it any longer, but he didn't want to invade her privacy so he did the one thing that he knew would make her come downstairs and hand out with him, he put the milk, ice-cream and chocolate syrup in the blender and pressed the on button and within five minutes Lydia walked down the stairs in her love heart pyjama pants and cherry singlet, her hair down on her back with a grin on her face and sleep in her eyes.

"Oh your home, didn't know that" Nathan said looking from his daughter and then back down at the blender

"So your just making a casual extreme chocolate milk?" she asked, they had invented their own concoction, it was simple and it was probably not the first time someone had called it their own but this was theirs and it was a reason to put ice-cream in their chocolate milk.

"Yes I am, do you have a problem with that?" he said with a smile as he poured the contents of the blender into two cups and slid it over to her. "So is this because of a boy?" he said taking a sip of his drink as he looked at his gorgeous daughter, who looked down at her cup and not up at her dad.

"Yeah" she said continuing to not look up

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah" she said looking up at him and smiling, her dimples showing

"Well okay baby, Just remember that all you have to do is say the word and I will pay this guy a visit with Jamie's baseball bat" he said as she laughed, Nathan wanted to be nothing like Dan Scott, he wanted to make his kids laugh and smile and most of all be happy without that fear of disappointing him and when he heard his kids laugh or looked into their eyes he wondered how his father could ever be that way with him. "Everything is going to be okay baby girl!" he said as he walked over and kissed her on the forehead "anyway you don't have to worry about boys" he said next to her ear as she looked up at him with her big brown Haley James Scott eyes "Because

You're not allowed to date until you are fifty" he said tussling her hair and walking up the stairs, as Lydia grew up he had to adjust her dating age. Nathan got his wish for a daughter just like his amazingly gorgeous wife and now he was regretting that request because no one could resist a James girl.

X-x-x-x-x-x

This story is mainly going to be about Lily, Jamie, Sawyer, Lydia, Jude and Davis, all the adults and all the younger kids will be involved throughout the story but the main story lines will be about those six. I am looking forward to writing this story and getting it out there, let me know what you think! Hopefully another chapter will be out soon.

Ages:

Lily Roe Scott: 23

James Lucas Scott: 23

Sawyer Brooke Scott: 17

Lydia Bob Scott: 15

Jude Baker: 15

Davis Baker: 15

Sam Quentin Scott: 13

Isabella 'Izzy' Elizabeth Scott: 13

Leonardo 'Leo' Keith Scott: 13

Ellie Rebecca Scott: 12

Jay Alexander Tanner: 11

Amelia Hux McFadden: 11

Lila-Meg Dupre Adams: 9

Milo Benjamin Evans: 9

Maggie Mae Evans: 8


	2. Chapter 2

When we were young – chapter two

"Well if it isn't Lydia Scott as I live and breathe" Sawyer said as she walked across the car park to the path where her cousin stood standing before throwing her arm over the smiling brunette "How are you doing kiddo?"

"Perfect" she said as her cousin looked at her curiously "I am completely over that whole Jude thing, it was no big deal and it kind of put everything into perspective" she said as she hitched her bag up on her shoulder as they walked across the path

"So you are over this whole Jude thing then?" she asked turning to her cousin and best friend who nodded "Then you aren't going to mind if he comes up and talks to us then?" said Sawyer as she pointed into the distance and Lydia ran and hid behind the bush. "She is so over it" Sawyer mumbled to herself before the tall, dark and handsome boy walked towards her.

"Hey Sawzell" he said coming to a halt as he stood with his back to the bush that Lydia hid behind.

"Hey Gorgeous" she said with a smile, all these kids had grown up together and they were incredibly comfortable with each other and they all loved each other a lot.

"Have you seen Lydia?" he asked as she looked behind at the busy where Lydia's eyes were only just visible and she was clearly giving the signal to not tell the boy with the pleading eyes in front of her, what had concerned her the most was how Jude had addressed Lydia, he had used her name, he never did that, Jude was the kid that made up the stupid nicknames and even if people said they were bad he would stick to them until eventually it would stick.

"Nah I haven't man" she said swearing that she saw a look of disappointment in his eyes "But when I see her I will tell her that you are looking for her" she said putting a supportive hand on his arm.

"Thanks" he said with his head down before getting a little more excited "We still on for our run?"

"Yeah" she said with a laugh

"I have to go now" he said waving to a friend in the distance "See you then" he said before they both shared waves and he walked away from her. Sawyer waited for him to be out of eye sight before she walked over to the bushes and turned so her back was towards them

"Over the whole Jude thing are we?" she asked

"Shut up" Lydia said as she passed her bag to Sawyer and requested some help in getting out of the bushes as Sawyer laughed, hoping that no one questioned why someone was in the bushes.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey jam" she said as he sat down in front of her and stole a chip off her plate, he looked behind himself and then looked at her with a smile

"Helllo Lil" he said over enthusiastically throwing his arms to the side of the booth.

"How did it go?" she asked as they thanked the waitress as she dropped two iced teas down onto the table.

"Yep" he said with a nod

"Yes as in it has been confirmed?" she asked and her nodded again as he took a sip "Have you told Chuck yet?" She said as he shook his head "Most importantly how are we going to tell our mums?" Lily said it and he gulped.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia walked up the hallway after putting her bag away in her locker and saying goodbye to Sawyer Scott, she wasn't late so she was just travelling at a regular pace when Jude Baker came striding up the hallway and Lydia freaked, running into the nearest classroom, she took a deep breath when Jude walked past the door.

"Can I help you?" a voice bellowed from behind her and she slowly turned, had a nervous giggle and then smiled, she looked around the room

"Hi, sorry for interrupting Uhmm I just have to give something to my brother Sam" she said as the entire classroom looked on at her, including her brother who wasn't really understanding the whole situation, the teacher gave her the indication that she was allowed to and she quickly walked over to her brother who smirked as she passed him a random thing from her folder, he got his finger and indicated that she needed to come forward so that he could talk to her without the people around them listening "So that boy you liked was Jude then was it" he said as she moved back so that he could see the look of denial on her face "Lydi you just barged into my classroom and hid while he walked past the door, I'm not that dumb" he said with this cheeky grin on his face as she stood silenced, not knowing what to do next.

"Miss Scott!" the teacher in the front of the class said to her as she turned around "Are you finished?"

"Yes sir thank you" she said as she tapped her brother's arm and walked out of the room and straight into Davis Baker who laughed and smiled at her before they started walking together.

"You harassing Sammy?" he asked with a laugh as Lydia smiled

"Uhmm did you walk past that class a minute ago?" she asked pointing backwards as she got trapped within the crowd and then re-composing so that she was walking with Davis again.

"Yeah Lyds why?" he said putting a hand on her elbow to prevent her from running into some kid in the hallway scrambling to find their classrooms.

"Nah nothing" she said as Davis looked at her with his ever so gorgeous eyes that gave her the 'tell me' look "You just look a lot like Jude from a distance"

"That's probably because we are twins Lydia" he said with a laugh "But you have to admit while we may look alike from a distance but when you get close up I am most definitely the most attractive Baker boy"

"Whatever you want to tell yourself" Lydia said with a massive laugh, she did love being best friends with Davis Baker.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Do it Scott be a man" he said over the phone as his best friend stood reluctantly at the top of the stairs "She is a tiny woman, it wouldn't take much to overpower her"

"Chuck, you're making it sound like I am going to go all fight club on her" he whispered hoping that she couldn't hear him.

"Wait then what are you doing?"

"Do you listen to me at all? Do I want to know what you are doing right now?"

"I am looking at the sexiest thing in the whole world" he said into the receiver as Jamie laughed

"You looking in the mirror again?" he asked having a bit of a Déjà vu moment

"Of course"

"Anyway back to what I called you about, how am I going to tell mum? She'll think it was something she did wrong"

"What will I think I did wrong?" a voice said up the stairs as Jamie squealed like a girl and dropped his phone, he quickly scrambled to pick it back up again "Chuck I have to go now" he said before hanging up the phone and following his mum to the kitchen.

"What did Chuck want?" Haley asked as she opened the fridge "What did he want you to tell me?" she said changing the subject

"Ahh yeah I could do that" he said as his mum looked at him with her big curious eyes "Well mum I'm twenty three did you know that?" his palms were sweaty and he found himself flustered and confused

"Yes Jamie I am very aware that you are twenty three years old, did you know that I was your mother?" she asked with sarcasm in her tone, just wanting to get to the bottom of this whole conversation. "Please get to the point"

"The point mum is that I am getting older, and one day I am going to have to leave the nest" as the words left his mouth his mother burst into tears. "Ma what I need to tell you is that I am moving out, I'm going to move to Charleston with Chuck and Lily"

"Way to break it to her easily" Lily said walking into the room and hugging her big brothers best friend tightly.

X-x-x-x-x-x

For some reason Lydia was seeing Jude everywhere and while she had attempted to avoid him by hiding behind random objects, in random classrooms, in the girls bathroom and even sitting away from him and the normal spot that they both sat in in English class this time she wasn't going to be avoiding him because he had caught on and he definitely wasn't letting her run away from him again, he had gone for his regular run with Sawyer and she had delivered him some cold hard facts and he wanted to address the answers and questions with Lydia. Jude saw Lydia and he just looked at her and when she finally saw him he could see clearly her pick up her pace "LYDIA" he yelled across the crowded locker room and she threw her head back before turning around, he knew her, he knew how she was feeling and he knew that if he put one foot wrong that she would burst into tears. What he wanted to do was go up to her, take her in his arms and kiss her with all the energy in the world "are you avoiding me?" he asked with his killer smile

"What?" she said with a laugh "Na…nope…of course not" he knew that this was her nervous babble 'What made you think that?"

"You were hiding in the bushes this morning" he said with a smile

"Did Sawyer tell you?" she asked quickly

"No Sawyer didn't tell me anything I looked back when I walked away and saw her helping you out of them" he said and he was a little frustrated, but he still wanted to kiss her senseless.

"I'm sorry" she said as he looked on at her with her vulnerable eyes "I just felt awkward you know cause the other day I told you something and I didn't mean it and I was just embarrassed that I had said it"

"So you didn't mean what you told me the other day?" he said feeling his heart break

"Yeah you know I was just having one of those days, I told Davis that I liked Lycra, clearly not in my right mind"

"Yeah" he said trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"So can we just forget it and be friends again please?" she asked with a smile.

"Of course we can" he said as she lunged into a hug, he loved this feeling of closeness with Lydia Bob Scott, he just wished that he could work up the courage to tell her how he actually felt about her and he had this feeling that she was lying about the whole lying thing but just being close to her made him so nervous and he felt as though he knew what it was like to be his brother.

X-x-x-x-x-x

They were all sitting down as they always did for dinner, telling stories and jokes, playing games and most of all laughing and tonight was no different they were mildly distracted when a car came screeching up the driveway with incredibly loud music and the family sitting at the dinner table all looked curiously at each other "Is that doff doff music?" asked Haley as she put a bread roll down onto her plate.

"No one calls it that anymore mum" Izzy chimed up before shovelling up another forkful of food.

"Are you saying that I am not up with the youth lingo?" she asked with a big smile

"Exactly mum exactly" Sam said as the whole table broke into laughter, the front door was thrown open and the blonde walked into the room with his strut and his sunglasses on even though it was dark outside

"Well if it isn't James L Scotty Scott and the Fam-fam" Chuck said as he sat down on the table and grabbed a plate, throwing on as much food as he could "Have you told them yet?" he asked with half the bread roll in his mouth

"Told us what?" asked Lydia as her mum burst into tears next to her and her father put a supportive hand on her.

"It's cancer isn't it?" Sam asked with this concerned look on his face

"It isn't Cancer Sammy" Jamie said as he sat with his head in his hands embarrassed that this was how the conversation was going.

"Just tell us Jimmy-Jam" she said looking at her big brother

"I agree with the hot sister" Chuck said as Lydia sat and rolled her eyes "If you don't tell them I will"

"Chuck Don't" he said hoping his friend wouldn't do it, he wanted to break it to them in his own time, his mum hadn't taken it very well and now he had to explain it to his sister who adored him and his littler siblings who looked up to him

"WE'RE MOVING TO CHARLSETON" Chuck said with such enthusiasm that he jumped up from his chair and spilled his water all over the table as all three of his best friends siblings looked at him with their mouths wide open.

To be continued!


	3. Chapter 3

When we were young – chapter three

Jamie awoke to the noise of his door opening; he assumed it was his mother. Ever since he had announced that himself, Lily and Chuck were going to move away his mother had become clingy. She even picked up her habit of watching him sleep, he had confronted her on her creepiness and she had burst into tears, he wasn't going to make that mistake twice. So he just let her watch. Although unlike other times it seemed she was moving towards him, he was a bit concerned that she was jumping on him until he recognised that it wasn't his mother it was his sister.

"Wake up Jimmy-Jam" she whispered doing a bottom drop on his bed next to him before beginning to poke him in the face with an evil smile on her face.

"What the hell Lydia? It's three in the morning"

"Yes it is and we are going for a drive"

"Explain"

"Lily, Sawyer and I decided that we needed to go to our beach one last time and watch the sunrise before you leave Sawyer and me behind for the great unknown"

"No thanks" he said throwing his doona over his head.

"You suck"

"Probably"

"If you don't get up I am sending Sawyer in here"

"Fine, I'll get up" he said throwing the doona off

"GOOD" she whispered "meet you downstairs"

X-x-x-x-x-x

It took at least ten minutes for Jamie to get ready to go from the moment his sister left the room, he had convinced himself that he didn't have to go that he would go back to sleep but he did owe his sister this, plus Sawyer could be really scary and annoying when she wanted to be and she almost always got her way so he might as well have gone with them, He walked down the stairs and quietly opened the front door before locking it again, as he walked around the corner he saw the three girls jogging on the spot and huddling around each other, they looked over at him and he could tell that they were wondering if he had come out to be a party pooper, so he looked at them gave them nothing as he walked towards them "Well just don't stand there, get a move on" he said as they grinned towards him and sprang into action, Sawyer called shotgun and plugged in her iPod, Jamie laughed and quickly jumped In the car before they headed off.

"What was that noise?" Haley asked as she heard the car leaving from outside their bedroom window with her eyes closed as she lay still sleepy.

"Probably just our kids sneaking out" Nathan said as he turned over and embraced his wife with his arm.

X-x-x-x-x-x

They drove for two hours; this was there spot, an isolated beach in the middle of nowhere. They had found this beach one day when Jamie was driving them home from summer holidays and the car broke down, they had decided to send Sawyer and Lydia to go and find some help but they got so distracted talking that they had lost their way and ended up on the beach, they had loved the silence of it, there was nothing but the crashing of the waves, they had found their way back to the car and told Jamie and Lily that they had to show them something, it had taken at least two hours for them to remember the direction that they were heading in but when they got there they were in love. Now they had committed to go whenever they possibly could to watch the sunrise, they weren't able to make it a lot but it was their little hideout from the world and they would always remember this exact spot. The sun was about to rise and they had set up blankets, Lily and Sawyer ran around in the shallow, cold sea water much like what they had done when they were little and away from Tree Hill. Jamie opened the picnic basket while his sister sat on one of the blankets with another one wrapped around her "Come on lazy, get up and run in the water, you're the one that made me come" he said plonking himself down next to her, he turned to her and she turned her face away "Lydia" he said pulling her face towards his as she wiped a tear away "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" she said trying to avoid his gaze, but she knew that her brother would get her eventually

"Lydia" he said now using his stern big brother voice that always got her to admit to things, always had and probably always would

"You're moving away" she said looking off into the distance

"Yeah I know" he said not really getting the relevance of the whole situation

"I mean what am I going to do without you? We go on chocolate muffin runs, play ridiculous games of snap, sing off key to annoy mum, just tell me this, who is going to be my big goofy brother who hugs me when I am sad and makes me laugh hysterically with the simplest non funny things"

"Ly..." he said watching as his sister got more and more upset, he hated that

"And do you know what makes it worse? You're taking Lily with you. When you're too busy or 'too grown up' I do all that stuff with her" it was no secret to Jamie that over the years Lily and Lydia had grown close, they would all hang out together and he loved spending time with both of the girls so it was just natural that it all had meshed together.

"What about Chuck? Do you mind if I take him?" he asked

"You can take him" she said with a smile and a laugh as Jamie sat grateful that instead of making her cry he was making her laugh.

"I'm not going anywhere"

"Except for Charleston" she corrected as he smiled

"And even Charleston isn't going to keep me from being your big brother, I was made to be Lydia Bob's brother" he said as she looked up to him "At Brooke's wedding reception" he said throwing an arm over his sister ready to tell her a story "Mum was pregnant with you and she walked over to me and sat down, she woke me up and told me that I was going to have a baby sister and do you know what I said to her?" he asked looking down at her

"You said damn it didn't you" she said as he laughed

"No I told her that I was glad that I was going to be a big brother and that I was so glad that you were a girl"

"Me too"

"Shut up and let me finish my story, I said that I hoped you turned out exactly like her"

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you"

"Are you kidding me? Lydia Bob Scott I wished for someone exactly like you and that is what I got, you are the essence of our mum and I am so glad of that. By the way I will be back so often that you will think I never left, mum is demanding that of me"

"It's not the same"

"You can always call and visit, anytime that you want to"

"I love you Jam" she said with a smile but teary eyes

"Love you too Lydia-Bob" he said pulling her into a hug, they sat like that until the sun quickly rose

"Uhmm Jamie"

"Yeah gorgeous" he said continuing to hug her but not looking down at her, he even managed to ignore Lily and Sawyer dancing in the distance, he was just happy to be in his sisters company

"Get off my you big girls blouse" she said as he pretended to be disappointed and let her go before she ran up the beach and tackled Sawyer into the water.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Jude" he said from the bottom of the bunk bed, his eyes were still closed and it was more of a grumble and a moan

"What?" he grumbled back from his spot on the top bunk

"What is wrong with you?" he asked his brother

"Nothing"

"Yeah I have been your brother for the whole of time and I know when something is up, you've been like mum when she is angry for about a week now so will you just tell me? Or do I have to hide all of my possessions so that we don't have a repeat of yesterday"

"Sorry man"

"It is fine just next time you have a sudden burst of anger can you through your own camera at the wall"

"I think I like Lydia" he said knowing that he would have to tell his brother eventually and thinking that maybe it would help to finally get it off his chest

"Fair enough brother, she is pretty stunning, smart and damn right amazing" the words just fell out of Davis' mouth and he just hoped that Jude didn't over think what he had just said it.

"Wait do you have a thing for Lydia?" he asked with his brow arched

"NO" Davis responded as quickly as he could, suddenly feeling glad that his brother couldn't see his face right now.

"Well I do" Jude said looking up at the roof "I like Lydia Bob Scott and she doesn't want anything to do with me in that way"

"How do you know she doesn't want you?" he asked

"She told me herself that she didn't want me"

"Happens to the best of us brother." He said speaking from experience

X-x-x-x-x-x

They had buried Jamie into the sand now Lily lay driving in the sun and wind, Sawyer and Lydia paddled in the water. Jamie dug his way slowly out of the hole between the hours of three and four.

"Good Job sporty only took you a whole hour"

"It was really compact"

"Sure, sure"

"Those girls are in trouble" he said darting up the beach towards his unsuspecting sister and cousin.

X-x-x-x-x-x

It was dark by the time that they decided to leave, it had been an incredibly long day but they all had smiles on their faces, the sun burn and the salt on their skin couldn't alter that. They had a long drive to go but who didn't love a good road trip, it would definitely involve laughter, smiles, bad food, loud music, singing and copious amounts of various fun. Jamie realised how blessed he was to have such an amazing family and he knew that he was going to miss being five minutes away from a good laugh, he wasn't going to deny that he was going to have lots of fun and laughter in Charleston with his two best friends but so much of him was his family and he had never been away from them for long amounts of time.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Sawyer got home at midnight, Lily had driven her home after dropping Lydia and Jamie home and she was pretty nervous about it, as they had driven up the road she had seen her parents walk in the front door which meant that they would know that she wasn't home before midnight. She waved goodbye to her aunty, taking a step back to brace herself for her entrance before walking up the steps and into the opened front door, all three sets of eyes landed on her, her dads fierce ones, her grandma's sympathetic ones and her mums drunk ones, she smiled nervously as her grandma kissed her on the cheek and walked out "Good luck" she smiled as she walked out the front door

"Where the hell have you been young lady?" her dad started the moment the door shut

"I went out with Lydia, Jamie and Lily, you know since Lil and Jamie are leaving soon"

"And do you know what time it is?" he asked

"It's twelve thirty" she said not wanting to add sarcasm to the pot

"We were worried sick, If it's after twelve you call" Sawyer wanted to tell him that he had only just got home too but that was beside the point, Lucas said this with his sternest voice as his wife giggled next to him, she sensed this weakness and went for it.

"Mum" she said turning to Peyton as Lucas tapped her arm to make her stop giggling

"We are very disappointed in you" she said without hesitation, before hiccupping

"Now go to your room, we will think of your punishment later" Lucas said deciding that Peyton saying less was probably best in her current state, he then pointed to the stairs and watched as Sawyer went up them before turning to his wife where they both started hysterically laughing.

"You sounded like your mum when we were in high school" Peyton laughed

"I know" he said with a smile

X-x-x-x-x-x

She was sitting on her bed, all ready for bed with her hair tied up when her dad knocked on the door and walked in "Shouldn't you be in bed young man?" she asked with the usual wit and banter she used with her dad

"I could say the same to you young lady" he said as he walked over and sat on the foot of the bed

"Is mum drunk?" she asked with a giggle

"Yeah she went out with your aunt Haley and aunt Brooke to TRIC to drink because Aunt Haley is upset that Jamie is moving away and all her kids are growing up" he said as Sawyer nodded

"So what is my punishment?" she asked with her best smile in the hopes of softening the blow

"You're grounded for a week"

"But…"

"Complain and I will make it two weeks kiddo"

"I'm not complaining I promise"

To be continued!


	4. Chapter 4

*Authors note* this chapter is a little more parental perspective because I pre-wrote this chapter when it was an idea for another story but I didn't use it and now I have decided to use it in this story right now…..! this is the introduction for the welcoming back of another character who I absolutely adore my WHOLE heart who I miss and who I wish we heard about more often in Tree Hill, Plus again we have some more Jude and Lydia stuff going on, so read, review and enjoy please*

When we were Young – chapter four

The kettle screamed and she took it off the hot plate, humming as she poured the boiling water into her cup, picking it up and walking to the living room where all the noise was coming from. As she walked past the stairs she yelled for her son to get up.  
>Peyton smiled walking into the living room as her eldest daughter Sawyer showed her youngest daughter Ellie her cheerleading moves, she then turned her smiley gaze to her husband who was sitting on the couch with a plate of toast on his knee and his concentration on his newspaper, and she really appreciated the smaller things.<br>As Peyton sat down on the couch wrapping her pyjama wearing legs under herself settling in as Leo walked in with his serious Peyton inherited black bed hair wearing his boxer shorts and hoodie sitting down between his mum and dad, stealing a piece of toast off Lucas' plate "OY" Lucas said looking up from his paper in outrage at his son who stood ahead of him with a piece of toast, his piece of toast, in his mouth

"What? I'm hungry" the boy said with toast in his mouth

"Then make your own"

"Why? You're not eating yours" he asked with a sheepish grin knowing how to rile his dad up

"I was just waiting"

"Till it was cold?" Leo asked as Peyton got off the couch responding to the knock at the door.

"You took my toast man"

"Here have it back" he said passing the half-eaten toast back to his dad

"I don't want your rejected toast"

"Technically it's YOUR rejected toast" said Leo as his mum laughed opening the front door.

"This is total Déjà vu"

"Hi"

"Please tell me your dad knows you're here"

"Well I'm in my twenties now so it's not as important but yeah" she said as Peyton hugged her "dads here too, he is just getting something from the car"

"Hello Peyton Scott" he said coming up the stairs. As she was about to respond a blue thing hit the side of her head later identified as her daughter's pom-pom.

"SAWYER SCOTT"

"It was Ellie" Sawyer blamed

"It was not" Ellie retaliated

"RUN SAWYER" Leo yelled at his oldest sister. Sawyer went to run up the stairs but stopped and looked at Jake

"It's the spunk in the pictures mum"

"Yes Sawyer I know" said Peyton a little embarrassed

Jake just laughed "Is that your baby girl? She is so grown up"

"Right back at you"

"Hey dad it's the guy that mum threatens to run away with" Sawyer yelled to her father

"Is Jake here?" Lucas asked getting up as Jake laughed and Peyton's cheeks went bright red

"Well come in"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Sorry about my kids they can be a little intense"

"Don't be ridiculous, they are amazing, they are completely and totally you and Lucas"

"I do love my crazy kids, Ellie is this little silent bombshell with a killer smile but when she talks she is so funny. Then there is Sawyer who is crazy and spontaneous and bubbly and Leo is like this funny kid but when they get together they are partners in crime, Lucas and I don't have a hope in hell especially when all three kids are together and on the ball" Peyton said "Sorry I've turned into one of those mothers who doesn't shut up about her kids"

"Threaten to run away with me? Huh?"

"Shut up" Peyton laughed and then turned to him "Brace yourself Jakey" she said with her hands on his shoulders and then turned him around and together they walked in the door. As it shut there was a scream and at that point something nearly bowled Jake over and that something was Haley.

"I think you winded me" he said with a laugh as Haley held on rather tightly, she hadn't seen him since high school reunion and he could tell that she was going to ask as many questions as she possibly could in a very short amount of time

"Jake oh my god, It's great to see you"

"Right back at you Haley"

"Where is Jenny? How is Jenny?"

"Jenny is great and she is hanging out with Sawyer"

"What are you doing here?"

"Wanted a decent cup of coffee, only place I knew was Karen's café. Speaking of Karen, is she still owner?"

"Brooke and I re-opened it but when she moved back to the hill she became a partner"

"Is she around? I'd love to see her"

"She is on her way back from visiting Lily and my Jamie"

"Where are they living?"

"Moved to Charleston, were to cool to live near their mama's. She should be back for the Ravens game, Ooh how long are you in town for?"

"A couple of days my ma was feeling neglected"

Haley laughed "Any plans for tonight?" said Haley as Jake shook his head "Come to the Ravens game, everyone will be there"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey Bobby" she yelled as she walked up the river court looking at her cousin who stood on the edge watching Lila, Maggie and Milo and Sawyer knew she was babysitting. Lydia turned around and smiled as the two girls walked towards her.

"Hey Sawy" she squinted as the sun glared brightly

"Babysitting?" she asked as they all turned and stood on the edge of basketball court

"Yup" Lydia said as simply as she could

"Hiding from Jude who would have trained here this morning and would now be, hmm let me see…" she said looking down at her watch "Eating pancakes?"

"No of course not and btw Sawyer Brooke Scott he wouldn't eat pancakes on a game day and right now he would be, hmm let me see…." Lydia said pretending to look at her watch that didn't exist "taking a shower"

"She doesn't have a crush on him at all she just knows his shower schedule" she said with a laugh as she looked to the girl on the other side of them who giggled

"I DO NOT!" she said turning to her laughing cousin before realising that she didn't know who the girl next to Sawyer was "Hi" she said with a small wave and a look of embarrassment

"This is Jenny Jagielski" Sawyer said pointing to the blonde girl to her right "her dad is…"

"Jake right?" Lydia said as Sawyer and Jenny looked at her "You've met my mum man, we have whole days dedicated to looking in photo albums, we have to dedicate time for her to tell a story of every single photo" she said with a laugh "Hi I'm Lydia Scott" she said holding out her hand "and unfortunately I have to take these little ratbags back home" Maggie was now attached to her side while Lila and Milo continued to run around

"Plus she also has to stand on the ledge outside Jude Baker's shower, hope the window isn't to fogged up and that you get a good view" Sawyer said with a laugh as Lydia jokingly punched her arm

"Yeah, yeah, yeah see you at the game tonight oh cheery one" she said waving and walking away with the three kids surrounding her.

"What's on tonight?" Jenny turned to Sawyer and asked

"Ravens are playing their first game of the season" Sawyer said with a smile on her face.

X-x-x-x-x-x

The group excluding Nathan, Lucas, Skills and the boys actually playing gathered around at the front of the Brian Durham gym. Izzy and Sawyer in long coats covering their skin left bare from the cheerleader outfits, while everyone else rugged up. Izzy sat between Brooke's legs as Brooke tied a ribbon in her hair and then hugged her to give the petite girl extra warmth.

Sawyer stood with the other cheerleaders and called Izzy over with a panicked look on her face as her mum and Jake showed up. Sawyer ran over to the group "Marissa is sick, I need another cheerleader" the look on her face was one of true stress

"I'd love too"

"Mum you're not funny, I'm serious" she said turning from her mother to Lydia "Can you do it?"

"Dude" Lydia said with a whine in her tone and this look of despair on her face

"Come on Bobby, It's the first Ravens game of the season I am cheer captain and Liza Schmidt will rub it in my face if I can't get a full team" Lydia continued to resist and so Sawyer got down on her knees in front of her cousin "PLEEEEEEEASE"

"Blondie" she said pulling her cousin up off the floor and holding her at arm's length "You don't want me on your cheer squad, I have the coordination of…my mum"

"HEY" Haley said sounding insulted as Peyton put an arm around her as everyone in the group tried to hide their smiles

"Oh come on Lydia You can't be that bad" said Sawyer

"HEY" Haley responded as all the adults let out their laughs, Jake included, just being here tonight in front of this familiar setting was making him think of what could have been but most of all he missed this place so much, throughout all of the years he had been gone that feeling was consistent and now he was standing with all these people who he had known back then and they were making him miss it even more.

"I NEEEEED YOU!" she continued to beg

"I say do it" Davis said as Lydia gave him the death stare "You'll look hot in a mini skirt"

"DUDE"

"I will be your slave for a whole day" Lydia just wasn't going to budge "And I will let you have the pretty red nail polish"

"Deal" she said without a moment of hesitation, she had been eyeing off the colour forever now, so they quickly ran off to the girls changing room leaving everyone to get re-acquainted with each other before all heading in to the gym to get good seats together.

X-x-x-x-x-x

He threw his bag on the floor and shut the door "How long till the game?"

"About ten minutes" Lily yelled from the kitchen. Jamie walked into the kitchen of their three bedroom apartment and opened the fridge "Thank god your mum stocked the fridge"

"Pity she didn't stock it with beer"

"WHAT?"

"Stop stressing Scott, Chuck went to get us some for the game" they had all decided, well Lily and Jamie had decided, Chuck really wanting to go out 'babe hunting' but Jamie had declined and he had said it was pretty pathetic going by yourself, so they had decided to stay in and watch to the Ravens game on the internet.

"Better hurry up" Jamie said biting into an apple

"What up? We ready for some Chucky love"

"Beers?" Jamie said ignoring his best friends comment

"Plenty"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"I look ridiculous" she said trying to manoeuvre the skimpy outfit to cover her bare body, she was thankful that she had decided to shave her legs earlier that night but this outfit felt more revealing than her bikini and it certainly didn't help that she was standing in front of a massive crowd.

"You look so hot Lydi-Loo" her cousin said as she handed Lydia the pompoms and walked over to the rest of the cheerleading group

"Yeah sure" Lydia brushed it off quickly and continued to blush anytime she thought anyone was looking her way

"You know who else will think your hot tonight?"

"Nope" she couldn't deny that her legs were shaking a little bit, she grabbed onto Sawyer to steady herself, and it wasn't that she wasn't confident in herself or her own abilities but this was way out of her comfort zone and anyone who knew her would know that.

"Rudy Judy" she said with this cheeky look on her face

"He will not"

"HERE THEY COME" one of the other cheerleaders announced to them all

"Here he comes" Sawyer elbowed her cousin

"Dude, Shut up"

Jude ran out looked abruptly towards the cheerleaders looked away and then looked back and stopped, another Raven running into the back of him.

"Lydiosa?" he questioned not sure if the scene in front of him was real or not, her brown curls falling onto her back, her mid drift on display and the skirt that sat perfectly on her toned legs, he gulped

"Yeah" she sort of blushed as he looked her up and down

"Looking good" he sort of spluttered, she certainly wasn't making this whole 'crush' thing easy on him, first she said it, then she danced on a table top, before telling him she wasn't interested and now this outfit, Lydia Bob Scott was playing him and he wasn't even sure if she was aware of it.

"Right" she said not really believing him

"Well I have a game to play" he said indicating to the court where his frustrated and nervous coach and team mates stood looking over to him

"Play good Jude" he smiled turning away before turning back again

"Hey Lydia you really do look good, don't doubt it. I like cheerleaders" he winked and Lydia was swoon city as the game started.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What was that?" Brooke asked Haley as they looked on at their children and the interaction they had just shared, they watched as Jude walked away but continued to look back at Lydia who was clearly trying to do her best to not fall over or look at him

"Was that a moment?"

"I think it may have been" Brooke said with a smile on her face.

X-x-x-x-x-x

It was halfway through the game and the Ravens were a couple of points down. Haley and Brooke were standing up screaming stuff down like "YOU SUCK" or "COME ON" and Peyton, Jake and Jenny were hysterically laughing.

"What?" he said breaking into hysteric laughter "Are they doing?"

"You see Haley and Brooke get really into abusing the Ref, It really makes Raven games more interesting. One day Haley threw something and Brooke got kicked out of the gym for three games" Peyton loved her quirky family and just being in their presence made the company phenomenal, the whole lot of them brought her this profound joy and she was sure that it was the same for all of them.

"I can't believe that we are watching this generations Raven's play, we were these kids not that long ago"

"If my kids get up to half the stuff I did I will kill them" Peyton and Jake were taken back to the game when the whole crowd exclaimed. Jude was on the ground; Brooke and Julian were standing panicked. Peyton turned to Haley who also had a panicked look on her face "What happened?"

"Some kid clearly on steroids punched Jude"

"Whoa"

"LUCAS IS HE OKAY?" Brooke yelled and pleaded down the auditorium, these boys were her life and when these sorts of things happened to them her heart would literally stop until she knew they were okay. As Jude got helped up by Leo, the player that punched Jude was clearly gloating, Quinn leant forward to Brooke "Its okay we will send him bad vibes" and with that Sam tackled the kid and they were rolling on the ground hitting each other.

"Good job with the bad vibes Quinney. GO SA…" before she could finish Julian had yanked her down and covered her mouth and she looked at him with a sorry look in her eyes.

"I'm going to kill that kid" Haley fumed

The fight was broken up just after Sam got punched in the eyes and Couch Lucas called a time out yelling "LOCKER ROOM NOW" and the boys headed.

"LUCAS" Haley yelled down as he turned around "Tell tackle boy that he is in major trouble. EXTREME trouble" she sat down fuming "NATHAN" she said aggravated

"What did I do?"

"He's your son and he has temper issues in high school, remind you of anyone?"

"He is your son too and I remember someone who slapped a lot of people in high school, does that ring a bell?"

She sort of smirked "Just get down there" she said sitting down "Poke his bruised eye for me Nate"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Mums going to kill him" said Jamie and Lydia instinctively both in different locations, one standing in the gym watching the whole thing unfold the other watching the computer screen a couple of hours away. The thing was the James-Scott kids were pretty good, a little crazy, very funny, pretty well balanced and pretty well behaved but sometimes there was this small exception, this small exception named Sam Quentin Scott, he was a good kid, very smart and incredibly cheeky but he fought hard for what he thought was right and that often got him into a lot of trouble, his mum had warned him that if he had got into trouble this year not only would basketball be out of the question but he would be dead, they knew he could convince her to let him continue to play basketball but they weren't so sure that he could convince her not to kill him.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What the hell was that Sammy?" his frustrated coach and uncle said with a hand on his head and this angry look on his face

"He hit Jude" Sam said pointing out the obvious reason first

"I know he hit Jude"

"He was gloating"

"Sam" he said trying to get his nephew to listen to him but knowing full well that while he was definitely going to punish the boy that it would be one hundred times worse when his best friend got to him

"What sort of douche says 'he got up in ma grillz'?"

"Sammy, Shut up" Sam walked over to Jude and put his hand on his shoulder

"You okay Baker?"

"Yeah my man Sam. Thanks for having my back" Jude said with this slight smile as the first aide guy walked away from him, he was kind of surprised that his mum wasn't in there panicking and being manic about the whole thing.

"Welcome"

"Your mum is going to kill you" he pointed out, Jude had grown up with these kids and he was like their big brother, who knew exactly what his Aunt Haley could do if she had to

"Yeah I know"

"BACK ON COURT BOYS" Lucas yelled. Sam knew that he would be sitting on the bench for the rest of the match but he still walked out with his teammates, stopping at his dad who had this look on his face and he knew that he was in trouble.

"Hey kid, Enjoy the end of the game cause it might be the last time you see sunlight in a long time" Nathan said with a slight smile on his face, he could sympathise with his son, he didn't condone his behaviour but Nathan had been in his position many a time and it would be hypocritical to judge him too harshly, he would leave that up to Haley.

X-x-x-x-x-x

The Ravens won and now everyone was filing out of the Brian Durham gym, massive groups of chatting excited people to be exact

"Hey Lydi wait up" Davis yelled out as Lydia turned around and looked at him with a smile, she was still wearing the cheerleading outfit but she had borrowed a coat off her mum who had walked off ahead of her

"Dude" she exclaimed with a smile

"Let me tell you this" he said catching up and beginning to walk with her, arms linked, for some reason they always did that, always linked arms when they were walking, like it was some comfort to them or maybe it was the idea that if they were connected then their conversations wouldn't be interrupted by the outside world.

"Wait. Don't mention the cheerleading" she said rather urgently before he could even speak a word

"Okay. Fine. Whatever" he said biting his tongue because clearly all he had wanted to mention and joke about was her cheerleading

"Hey Nerd burger" his brother said walking across to them, Lydia felt herself blushing again, she felt lucky that it was dark outside and that he probably wouldn't be able to tell anyway.

"Yes evil twin?"

"Can you give me and the bobinator a moment?" he asked as he took a gulp, Davis knew what this was, he knew his brother was about to pour out his heart to Lydia Scott and he smiled

"Sure thing" he went to walk away "By the way Lydi nice legs"

"Dude, shut up" she laughed at Davis and nervously "how is the eyes?"

"Yeah it's okay"

"Mums going to Kill Sammy, Actually" she said looking down at her watch "She probably already has"

"Yeah" Lydia kept walking "Lydia"

"You played like a girl Judy"

"LYDIA"

"Sorry. I was kidding about you playing like a girl, actually you played pretty well" she said as he continued to look at her with his fascinating eyes that told her so much with one look, this look was saying 'can you please just shut up and let me talk' "What?"

"You know the other week when you told me you liked me?"

"Yes I remember, it was humiliating" she said again thankful for the darkness and the fact that she was pretty sure that she had cried out all her tears already.

"Look…"

"Jude you don't have to explain, in actual fact it would make me feel better if you didn't" she said wanting to move away, get away, anything really just to get away from this conversation

"Lydia"

"Jude" she said in all seriousness

'I like you too"

"Jude seriously"

"Come on Lydia I mean it"

"If this is because I am wearing a cheerleader outfit" she said again trying to adjust the material of the skirt to be more covered in front of him, this outfit made her feel as though she stood in front of him completely bare and she couldn't do that again not in the span on a week.

"It's not"

"How do you know that?" And with that he kissed her she broke it off "Because I'm not wearing one of those often" she decided to clear up

"Dude, shut up!" he mocked before she kissed him hard back.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Well that was an interesting game Couch Scott; I can't believe its Coach Scott now"

"I'm no Coach Durham"

"If these walls could talk man"

"Do you miss Tree Hill?"

"I do and I lied" Lucas looked at him curiously "I'm not back for my ma, I'm moving back, Jenny's older now and I want to come home" Lucas laughed shook his hand and drew him into a hug patting his back.

"Welcome back man"

To be continued!


	5. Chapter 5

*Authors notes* this chapter is about SEX, and not in the way you would think in a story all about teens, this is more of a chapter of the adults of tree hill are dealing with having teenage kids. Some of you who may have read my previous stories might recognise the Brooke, Julian, Jude and Davis scenes were actually from another story that I wrote but I thought that these scenes would work better in this story and deleted the other, okay well read, review and most of all enjoy cause I know I am*

When we were Young – chapter five

"Brooke, Hey Brooke" he said prodding the lump next to him as she fidgeted before turning on her side to her husband. "Brooke Baker, I have a present for you"

"Is this an actual present or is this a metaphorical kinky present" she said without opening her eyes

"You need to open your eyes for that one" he said with a cheeky grin on his face, she squinted her eyes open and peered over his shoulder.

"Its six thirty in the morning, there is no way in hell I am waking up this early for a kinky surprise"

"But the boys won't be up for HOURS and it's said that exercise helps give you energy for day to day activities"

"You do realise that you give me that line every morning" she said turning back towards the window putting her back to Julian.

"And you know what, it works every morning too, because you just can't resist me" he said rolling his laughing wife onto her back and beginning to kiss down her neck "This is my favourite part of the whole day".

X-x-x-x-x-x

Davis hummed as he went to retrieve the box of cereal from the cupboard, he and his brother had snuck out of bed in the middle of the night to watch the soccer without their mum knowing, they hadn't gone back to bed yet so instead of getting caught out they were just pretending that they had gotten up early and were just casually getting ready for school.

"Dude we can totally make pancakes" Jude said walking across the house from the living room to the kitchen

"But mum makes the pancakes" Davis sulked wondering how he got roped into making his brother pancakes

"Come on put an apron on, get out the ingredients come on cook up a storm" Jude said walking slowly past the kitchen

"What do you put in pancakes?" Davis whispered up the hallway to his brother

"Go ask mum what's in them, I'm going to brush my teeth" he said with a wave as he went up the hall to the bathroom

"I can't wake her up just to ask how to make pancakes she will kill me"

"She is awake, I heard her laugh before" Jude said turning on the tap

"Fine" Davis said picking up the bowl he planned on making the pancakes in, for no reason whatsoever, and up the hallway he went, he was going to knock but he knew that if he tried to he would drop the bowl and that would cause more harm than good, so he twisted the door knob and walked in "Hey mum what do you put in…OH MY GOD EWWWWW GROSS" he said walking in seeing his parents in a passionate embrace and then turning around to face the door, his parents lay frozen

"DAVIS WHAT DO YOU WANT?" His mum screeched

"I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT WENT INTO PANCAKES NOT HOW BABIES WERE MADE" Davis said frozen still facing the wall.

'What's all this yelling about?' Jude mumbled with toothpaste in his mouth

Davis went to save his brother "JUDE SAVE YOURSELF" but before Jude could he walked into the bedroom and got a sight he never ever wanted to see, Jude gagged and spat toothpaste all over the floor.

"THAT'S JUST GROSS"

"SHEILD YOUR EYES" Davis yelled in a freaked out tone

"SHUT THE DOOR GET OUT GET OUT" his mother yelled before the boys quickly evacuated the area shutting the door behind them.

Both boys walked motionless back to the kitchen with pale faces, a shocked and frightened identical expression on each of their faces, the slowly and quietly sat down on the bench stools "Dude" Jude said to the distance in front of him.

Brooke rushed out in her dressing gown awkward and not willing to look at either of her sons in the eye.

"So what did you want Davis?" she asked looking anywhere but her sons face, you see the boys had walked in on her and Julian having sex before but that was when they were little but then they could tell them that they were just cold and huddling for warmth, or that daddy was just trying to wake up mummy, or any other conceivable, no pun intended excuse to why they were naked and lying on top of each other. Now her boys were teenagers they weren't as innocent and oblivious as they used to be, they were in high school they knew what was going on, they knew that mum and dad weren't just keeping each other warm they were having sex and with the position they were in when the boys walked in there was no denying it.

"Don't worry now; I'm pretty sure that we're not going to eat for a long long very long time"

"CRAP" their dad yelled and all their heads turned to look at him, distance was key you couldn't tell if anyone was looking at anyone's faces. "Who put that there?" Julian asked indicating to the blob of toothpaste that Jude had spat on the floor in the heat of the moment, Julian hopped over to the bench and while everyone looked up at the roof and wiped the toothpaste off his foot "Why would you do that?"

"Sorry I was temporarily blinded and lost control of all my senses when my body was sent into a state of shock" Jude said looking across the room, Julian was instantly silent and Brooke and he quickly excused themselves and headed to the bedroom not shutting the door.

"Crap" she said sitting down on the bed

"When you think about it it's kind of funny"

"Yes scaring our kids for life is so hilarious Julian" she said putting her head in her hands, Julian sat down next to her on the bed and putting his arm over shoulder and rubbing it

"Let's think of it in a positive light"

"What could possibly be a plus about this Julian?"

"Well we don't have to worry about teen pregnancy, because those boys aren't going to have sex for a very long time" said Julian as Brooke looked up at him and smiled as he shot her one of his killer cheeky grins.

"I'm so glad I married you Julian Baker" she said as she drew his face to hers, they were about to kiss when a voice whizzed passed

"If you're going for round two please be kind enough to shut the door" Jude said probably returning his toothbrush to the bathroom.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Brooke walked up to the café door and held it open as her boys walked In thanking her but continuing to look down, she watched as they went and sat down with Lydia and Sawyer Scott before she crossed the café to the counter where Peyton was sitting talking to an already working Haley and Karen, she sat down and Peyton turned to her.

"What's the happy haps gorgeous friend?"

"I am dying of embarrassment" she said putting her head in her hands once again

"I'm getting cake" Karen said scooting across to the other side of the bench where the chocolate cake sat

"What happened?" Peyton said putting a supportive hand on Brooke's back and Haley put hers on Brooke's arm

"Okay so this morning, Julian and I were let's just say celebrating the morning ..." Haley looked on at her confused, Peyton took this time to try and fill in the woman standing in front of her

"They were Brooking together" she said with a smirk on her face as Haley and Karen did the same

"Guys it's not funny"

"Sorry honey go on" Haley said leaning back in, resting her arm on the bench

"So we were celebrating the morning and Davis walked in" she said it and the girls surrounding her broke into laughter "No, it gets worse" she said as they all stifled their laughter intrigued on what could possibly make this situation any worse "So Davis was all grossed out and he was yelling out "EWW" and "GROSS" so Jude decided to come see what all the fuss was about, and Julian and I were frozen we didn't know what to do, and the boys were frozen so we all just sat there or lay there awkwardly until I yelled for them to get out" she stopped and looked up to see all three women with red cheeks trying so desperately to hide their laughter, "Laugh just Laugh, I know you want to" she said before they all opened their mouths and hysterically laughed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What's wrong with you guys?" Sawyer said leaning forward and taking a slurp out of her strawberry milkshake.

"Nothing!" Davis said bluntly looking off into the distance and shuddering when he closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"Okay something is definitely going on" Lydia said putting a hand on Jude's "What's happened?"

"Please don't touch me" he said before putting his head down on the table, Lydia looked strangely at Sawyer and Sawyer returned the gaze before they both turned too Davis who made eye contact with someone for the first time since he witnessed what he wished he never had to.

"Come on Davey, You know you want to tell us" Lydia said leaning into the table looking at her best friend who gulped

"I can see it from here Dave, It's eating you up inside, if you don't tell us it then it will just continue to haunt your dreams" Sawyer said briefly looking towards Jude as he groaned into the table top

"I think we should tell them" Davis said

Something that sounded like "DUDE" was mumbled by Jude who still had his head planted on the table top.

"Okay so this morning we were up early..."

"Weird. Why?" Lydia asked in an interrogatory way

"Not the point Lydia not the point! So we decided to make pancakes, but we didn't know what ingredients we needed, so I went to ask mum…"

"You don't know what ingredients are in Pancakes?" Sawyer asked literally shocked, that's when Jude's head shot up from the table

"Shut up, let the man speak! I'm here for you baby boy" Jude said fist bumping his brother calling him the name that the family affectionately called him.

"So I went to ask mum and I walked in without knocking and there mum and dad were doing the nasty in bed" Davis said before pretending to gag as Jude groaned and threw his head on Lydia's shoulder.

"So you walked in on your mum and dad having sex?" Sawyers asked with a smirk similar to her mother's as Davis mumbled the response yes and with that the girls were laughing, hysterically!

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Has it happened to any of you guys?" she asked her finally calm friends

"Yeah a couple of times when the kids were little but now we put something against the door and lock it so they can't get in anyway"

"You're a thinker no wonder they call you tutor girl" Peyton laughed

"See the bonuses of having both my kids moved out" Karen said pouring coffee into an elderly man's cup at the other end of the counter

"What about you?" Brooke asked in the direction of Peyton

"Well it stopped when the kids stopped trying to sleep in my bed, but it's happened once with Ellie recently and we told her that I was choking on a peanut and Lucas was trying to clear my airway" Peyton said as the women around her giggled

"Did she believe you?"

"She did ask if she could help" Peyton laughed "But if you're asking me I don't think that excuse will work on your boys"

"Crap, I'm going to have to give them the birds and bees talk" Brooke said looking over her shoulder to the group of teenagers, her nieces in hysterically fits of giggles.

"You only have to give it once, that's adequate enough to scare them silly for years" Haley said stretching

"I think they have been scared enough today" Peyton said with a cheeky grin on her face.

"I have nothing else I can do, I'll do it tonight" she said in a matter of fact tone like no one could convince her otherwise, she groaned " This is punishment for all the sex I had in high school I just know it" Brooke said it and Peyton was in hysterical giggles just like her daughter, Brooke span the chair to face her attempting to give her a dirty look, but she took one look at the chuckling blonde and broke into laughter again, slapping Peyton and trying to compose herself.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Come on girly I'll drive you to school" Peyton said to her daughter as she stood behind her niece and played with her dark brown hair, Her stomach muscles still hurting from all the laughing she had done within the last half an hour.

"Do you mind if I grab a ride?" Davis asked looking up at his blonde aunty with his Brooke inherited eyes

"Yeah sure thing Davis, how about you two?" Peyton asked looking to Jude and Lydia

"Free Period" Lydia said pushing her head backwards and tilting so that she could look at her aunt

"Me too" Jude said looking up from Lydia to Peyton and smiling his dads famous smile

"Well come on kid's mama has to get to work" Peyton said with a smile as her daughter walked past her and Davis got up before they all walked out. Haley stood behind the counter, she was pouring the coffee into a customer's cup in a booth when she heard her gorgeous daughters laugh, Nathan had once said that Lydia's laugh was enough to inspire those around her to pursue their greatest dreams and she completely agreed with him, so when she heard the revolution that was Lydi Scott's laugh she found herself turning her smiling head to face her, she caught Brooke's eyes looking in the same direction, this simple smile on her face as she watched Lydia and Jude mercifully flirting with each other, she smiled for a moment before coming to a sudden halt and her expression narrowed "Great I'm going to have to have the sex talk too" she said to herself before looking down to her outraged and concerned customer.

Haley waited until Jude left with his mum and Karen got back from picking up supplies to address her current issue with her daughter, she made two milkshakes out the back, she knew that if she was going to try and bring up this topic that she was going to need some bribery. She walked over and smiled forgetting briefly what she was standing there for, instead looking at her daughter with her feet up on a chair, nose in the books. "Hello Lovely daughter" she said pulling out a chair from across from her and putting the milkshake down in front of Lydia.

She eyes it suspiciously before looking up to her mum "What did you do?"

"Do I need a reason to make my baby girl a milkshake?" she asked as Lydia gave her the 'come on just tell me look' "I want to have a talk" she said as her daughter looked up at her dutifully with the straw in her mouth. "So I see that you and Jude have been really hitting it off" Haley watched as Lydia smiled and rolled her eyes "Hey Lydia did you know that I waited until I was married to have sex?" Lydia burst into hysterical laughter as her mum looked at her

"Mum you got married when you were sixteen, I don't think that counts" she said as Haley wished her daughter's laughter didn't make her smile.

"And you aren't allowed to do that" she said as Lydia continued to laugh at her "Look what I am trying to say, even if you find it incredibly funny, Don't feel pressured baby, wait until you are good and ready, preferably at the ripe age of forty five, Just don't rush into anything okay?"

"Mum I get where you are coming from" she said leaning forward and putting her book down onto the table "But Jude and I aren't going out, not really anyway, and even if we were I'm not ready for that" saying the word aloud was somewhat uncomfortable in front of her mum " Plus I want to wait till I'm married"

"Really?" her mum asked with this look of happiness on her face

"So I will come to you in a year and we can talk about it then" she said with a cheeky look on her face as her mum jokingly slapped her arm and stood up, taking away the milkshake that sat in front of her, her daughter looking as though she had killed her puppy.

"I've got all the information I need from you" she said with a laugh before putting it back on the table and kissing her daughters forehead.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Since Sawyer was little she had always demanded to spend time with her dad, she absolutely adored him, always had and probably always would, Peyton had minded it meant in the beginning that she got the afternoon off, or she got to go to sleep through the night because Sawyer wanted her daddy to sleep in her room when the monsters were under her bed, it also meant when the other kids came along Peyton had some time to focus on one on one time with little Leo or little Ellie. When school had started Lucas would pick Sawyer up from school and take her to the Ravens gym to watch training, she found herself growing up and forming relationships with Ravens present and future, when Leo started getting older he would come and watch some of the training sessions but for him that wasn't nearly as much fun as playing basketball in his uncle and aunties driveway with his cousins, but Sawyer even now, even in her last years of high school continued to spend most of her afternoons sitting in the Brian Durham gym waiting for her dad to take her home and spend some time with her. Sawyer sat in the grandstand watching and waiting for her dad to finish basketball training, she picked up her B. Davis magazine, slipped her reading glasses onto her face all ready to take the 'which season are you' personality test.

"Hey" he says and she puts the magazine down to look at the back of his head

"What are you doing?" she asks confused wondering why he was sitting there and why he wasn't looking at her when he talked

"I just need to ask you something" she can see that he is reluctant to ask or say anything further

"Shoot"

"Do boys pressure you for sex?" he says but he refused to face her, he sits facing the court as she sits behind him, putting her hand on her forehead

"No, not really" she answer quickly

"Not really?" he turns around abruptly looking outraged and she can tell he is feeling as though he is a failure

"Not at all, not at all" she reassures watching his shoulders as they de-arch

"Good" he said simply in his usual no emotion tone as he turned back around

"What is with this questioning?" she asked leaning forward, putting her magazine to the side of her and chewing the ends of her glasses.

He didn't want to but he knew she deserved some answers "I was walking through the locker room and I heard some stuff and I thought of when I was a teenager and that sort of stuff" she could tell he was feeling very awkward and uncomfortable

"What sort of stuff?" she teased

"Sex" he said it in a whisper and a shaking voice not knowing if he wanted an answer, and to think he laughed when he heard about Nathan's birds and the bee's conversation with Jamie.

"Dad" Sawyer said and he turned around to face her "Do you really want to have a conversation about sex with me right now?"  
>"Not really" he said standing up to walk away<p>

"Not really?" she responded the way he had and he laughed, Lucas went to walk away as Sawyer went to return to her quiz.

"Hey Sawyer?"

"Yes daddy"

"You do know that if you ever need to talk about anything, no matter how awkward it makes me, I am here for you, no matter what"

"I know" she said with a smile, wanting him to know that she had known that her whole life

"Good" he smiled and kissed her on the forehead

"Now let's never speak of this again" she said with a laugh as he tapped his nose.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Boys" she yelled out nervously up the hallway before walking into the living room and standing next to Julian as he swung a supportive arm over her.

"What?" Jude said walking down and sitting on the couch in front of them, he looked at Julian and Julian removed his arm from his wife's shoulder.

"We just need to talk. Where is your brother?" she said looking at the teenage boy who was clearly squirming in his seat.

"I'm here" Davis said before joining his brother on the couch.

"Okay I'll start" Brooke said looking around the room to all of her men "So this morning…"

"Mum please you don't have to do this" Jude said in a grossed out reassuring tone, trying to do anything to get out of this room and get out of this conversation.

"No I do, this morning you walked in on something it was a moment between a husband and wife..."

"Brooke please don't go there" Julian whispered to his wife

"Fine you do it then" she said pointing the conversation to her husband

"Okay men do you know the song the bad touch?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO" all three of his family members yelled at him at the same time

"Boys sex is..."

"Mum please don't do this" Davis pleaded with his mum

"But I am responsible for educating you on sexual relationships, I have to do this"

"They teach us at school, plus most of the stuff on television is mediocre porn..."

"And I'm not complaining" Jude added

"Amen to that" said Julian before getting a killer look from his wife

"But how will you know what a functional and non-functional relationship it?" she sulked sitting down on the couch.

"That's what doctor Phil is for" Jude added

"Oh I love that balding wisdomful man, he just warms my heart" this comment from Julian got a three-way weird look from everyone in the living room before they all turned away and looked at their mother bear.

"Mum I promise you that if I ever need information on sex and relationships I will come to you, cause let's face it I don't have anyone else to go to"

"Hey" Julian said with an insulted tone

"Actually that's not true I can talk to Uncle Nathan or Aunt Haley" he said pulling his dad along

"Are you honestly saying that you would rather talk to your Aunt Haley than me about sex and relationships, I mean I understand Uncle Nathan, he is just the little bit more manly than me and he has a list of women that he has checked off but AUNT HALEY?"

"I'm kidding dad" Jude said showing off his replica Julian grin to his father

"Okay guys can we stop this conversation before I decide to never ever eat again?" Davis asked getting up from the couch

"Speaking of food, what are we having for dinner? I haven't eaten anything all day" Jude said getting up also.

"Hotdogs" Julian said with a smirk and a grin on his face as his two sons looked at him grossly and walked out of the room before his wife did the same thing but slapped him on the way out on the arm "Guys I was just cracking a funny"

To be continued!


	6. Chapter 6

When we were Young – Chapter six 

Lydia walked around the house with a hop in her step and a gleeful smile plastered across her face, she was up incredibly early because she was just so excited, she walked around the living room singing "Jamie is coming home" over and over again, her brother hadn't come back to visit them since their Aunty Taylor's wedding and she was seriously missing her big goofy brother, her life had been pretty hectic since then but she still managed to feel the hole in her heart that to be filled needed her brothers presence, but he had called two nights ago and told his mum that he was coming home for a visit so he would be putting in his breakfast orders right then, his mum and his sister hadn't been able to wipe the smiles off their faces. So now she stood in the living room swinging her arms and whistling, her phone went off and she looked down at it curiously, she saw who it was and instantly felt her heart flutter and her cheeks redden, she found herself checking the no body was behind her before she opened it, she stopped whistling and nodded as she read it the text before shutting the message and continuing to whistle before sneakily picking up her backpack before sneaking out the front door.

She walked to the river court and he was running around, all sweaty and basketbally, shooting hoops and making baskets, they hadn't really done anything other than flirt with each other recently, they had kissed twice, once after the basketball game and a second time at her aunties wedding reception on the steps of TRIC, he had discussed his want to be her boyfriend but nothing had really been discussed since then and she had been worried sick that he would have changed his mind, that he had regretted his words to her that night at TRIC, was it another skin moment, her legs had been out at the basketball game and her cleavage at the wedding, he spotted her and smiled, he took a breather and then walked over to her with this cheeky smile on her face.

"What are you doing up at seven in the morning on a weekend?" she asked with her hands in her pockets.

"Thought I would get in some training before the sun came up, how are you doing little lady?" he didn't have a clue why he had called her that, he wanted to kick himself in the junk just for saying it

"Jamie is coming home" she said with a smile as he looked down not one hundred per cent happy with the outcome to his question

"Cool" he said trying hard to hide his disappointment, she could sense the tension, she could see it in his stance as he looked down to the basketball in his hands, she snatched it off him and threw it without looking into the hoop "I think I have to marry you now" he joked before again wanting to punch himself in the nads, she looked down so awkwarded out, he had kissed the girl twice, under no circumstances do you mention marriage, especially when her parents got married only a year older than he and Lydia were right at that very moment.

"Did you mean what you said at the wedding?" she asked looking up at him

"What?" he asked pulling the whole oblivious boy act

"About wanting to be my boyfriend? Do you really want to be my boyfriend?"

"Yeah" he said and that one word answer made her want to punch him in the nads, it reminded her of when she had originally mentioned the fact that she sort of kind of fancied him.

"You promise that you want to be my boyfriend?" she asked with her vulnerable brown eyes as he stood with a smile on the edge of the river court.

"I promise" he said the words coming out with such excitement

"Spit swear?" she says and his expression turns from excitement and playfulness to pure confusion

"What?"

"When you spit on your hands and then shake the other persons, Jamie and I do it all the time" she laughed briefly remembering that her big brother was coming back into town.

"That is truly disgusting, you Scott siblings are freaky" he laughed as she looked at him with her massive smile "What does the spit bind it all together or something?"

"No, If the person is willing to spit on their hands and get your spit on their hands then they are serious about the promise that they are making" she said looking down, a bit embarrassed, she looked back up at his smiling face as he brought his hand up to his mouth and spat on it "Yuck" she said as he laughed and then she did the same thing with a massive smile on her face, she held hers out and met his in a shake, as they shook Jude pulled her in with the other arm and attached her lips to his.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Peyton stood in the shower washing her hair, she hummed to herself letting the steam engulf her, he slid the shower door open and stepped in behind her before starting to place kisses down her tanned body, all the way up and down her back, she let out a laugh and then turned around to give in and let him kiss her through the steaminess of the shower but instead laughed as she looked at her husband who was wearing her very attractive pink shower cap that she had owned for such a long time that it was probably as antique, she laughed as he kissed her through the tempered water, but they stopped still when the bathroom door opened.

"Hey mum sorry I have to brush my teeth" there eldest daughter said turning on the tap, the water temperature changed slightly as it ran down Peyton's bare back. Peyton tried her hardest not to laugh as her husband stood before her with a finger on his lips in an attempt to silence her.

"Yeah that is fine" she stumbled through the words, they stood there anxiously waiting for their daughter to leave the room so that they could get out of this incredibly awkward situation, they could hear her put her toothbrush down and head for the door.

"Thankyou"

"Welcome" Peyton answered still trying hard to stop herself from laughing

Sawyer went to walk out the door but stopped "Oh Dad this is why it's bad thing to ground me, especially for you, no private time" she said with her killer smile as her mother let out a mammoth laugh.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia walked home with a massively goofy grin plastered on her face, she had swagger in her steps as she walked up their street, hoping that her parents wouldn't be awake, or wouldn't be able to tell that she had well and truly had just played tonsil hockey As she walked up to their gate she got all nervous wondering if she had somehow changed since she was home this morning but all nerves seemed to disappear when she spotted her brothers car in the driveway, she ran as quick as her legs would take her into the house and into the living room where she leapt and attached herself to her brothers waist, he chuckled and looked down at her.

"Hey Lydi-Bob" he said with a massive grin on his face as he wrapped his arms around her

"Hey Jamoliscious" she responded not letting go for dear life

"Come on Lydi let go, there is someone I want to introduce you to" instead of letting go she held on tighter

"If it's chuck with a wig on pretending to be his own twin brother you can forget it, I'm not five anymore" she said as her brother let out an incredibly loud laugh.

"That was fun" he chuckled away

"Not for me, I was convinced for weeks that you and Chuck had killed 'Hugo'" she said now laughing herself and letting go of her brother, she straightened up her outfit and looked at him with a grin "So who is it then?"

"Hey Jolene come out here" he yelled over the top of his adequately shorter baby sister

"James Lucas she isn't a Labrador, you can't just yell fetch and expect her to come to you" his mother said walking side by side to a blonde, leggy girl approximately around the same age as Jamie if she had to guess.

"Joey" he said as she walked over to him and weaved an arm through his "I would like you to meet my little sister Lydia, I think you two are really going to hit it off" Lydia gulped, she hadn't wanted to share her big brother with Charleston let alone another girl, a tally leggy blonde to be precise.

"Hi" Lydia waved shyly before turning to her mother "Where are Dad, Sam and Izzy?" she asked occasionally looking out the corner of her eye at the blonde girl that seemed so foreign in their world.

"They went for a walk, we are going to meet them at Karen's in an hour or so" Haley said looking at both of her eldest kids.

"Hey mum would you mind if we left for a bit, we might go try and catch up with dad and maybe I will show Joey around Tree Hill a bit, then meet you at Karen's?" he asked with his Scott boy charm.

"Sure darling boy" she said as he walked over, leant down and kissed his mother's forehead, Jamie and Jolene walked towards the front door and her mother walked towards the kitchen

"Joey" Lydia said in a mocking tone before throwing herself down on the couch.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia had decided that she wasn't going to go to the café for lunch, she had told her mum that it was because her stomach hurt but the truth was for some reason she completely and totally despised her brothers new girlfriend, so she sat on the couch and did what she always would when she was upset, she turned on the television and picked up the telephone. He answered after two rings, she could recognise him purely from his phone voice "Davis Baker I need you to put your television on channel twelve" she said, in the distance she could hear him doing what she had asked him to do. "Now we are going to bitch"

"What?" he asked not sure where she was going with all of this

"Just go with it." She said before adjusting the volume on her television "She is such a skank" he recognised what she was doing

"Lydia I can't do this, I just can't" he responded in a huff

"Come on dude just try it" she said appealing to his friendship and his attitude to give everything in his power a try.

"Lyd…." He whinged on the other end of the phone

"Do it for me" she said knowing that he would do anything for her if she asked him too "Please Davie" she pleaded

"FINE!" he said incredibly frustrated by it all, he then took a deep breath and began to speak "Look at her strutting around…..I CANT, Lydia why are you making me do this?"

"Because you are my best friend and I love talking to you" she said with a smile, forgetting that her face wouldn't be transferred through the call but still knowing full well that Davis knew exactly what facial expression she was pulling.

"And?" he asked knowing that she wasn't giving him the full story

"Sawyer got grounded and isn't allowed to talk on the phone for a week, we always watch it together and it's just not the same without her plus I am like super depressed right now"

"So why must I be the chosen one? Why must I suffer through this crap?"

"Fine put Jude on the phone for me, he will probably provide more stimulating conversation than you anyway" she teased knowing full well that Davis sometimes gained a bit of a complex when it came to his own twin brother, but he wasn't taking the bluff, instead he passed the phone to his brother and leaned back waiting for it all to unfold before his eyes.

"Hey Jude" she said with a bit of a silent chuckle and more heart fluttering

"Hey Lydiosa" he responded chewing something that he had found in his room when he had been cleaning up, he didn't know what she wanted to talk about but he found himself distracted by the images on the television screen in front of him "Whoa look how big her boobs are" he said, Lydia was exasperated, she didn't want the very start of her relationship to be clouded by Jude's lack of respect for the seriousness of her favourite soap opera.

"Put Davis back on the phone for me please Jude" she said with a sigh

"What? Wasn't the sophisticated conversation enough for you" he mocked

"Do you see why I talk to you in situations like this now?" she asked using exaggerated hand gestures on her end of the phone

"Stop moving your hands like that you freak, just wait a second, I've got someone else I can give the phone to." He said passing the phone to his dad who had just sat down on the couch with the two boys, Jude still focusing heavily on the main characters rack.

"Who is this?" Julian asked as he talked into the phone

"Lydia"

"What are you watching?" he asked without a moment of hesitation "Oh my god what a skank" he exclaimed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

After her long afternoon of catching up on her favourite soap opera with her Uncle Julian she had called her mum, positively starving and hoping that she would be home soon to make her a sandwich, instead her mother told her that they had spent the day showing Jolene around Tree Hill and that they were heading to the café for dinner, Lydia had momentarily forgotten that Jolene existed and sighed, but knowing full well that if she didn't do something now that she would probably starve to death this picked up her bag and headed out the door.

X-x-x-x-x-x

They all sat down for a civilised meal, basically a getting to know 'Joey' meeting, everyone was simply fascinated by the girl who had everything, the looks, the charm, the knowledge and was a keen golfer so that was sports covered as well, Lydia looked down at her plate playing with her food and mumbling under her breath, she could feel her dads eyes on her and then she felt a kick on her left shin and she jumped up to look at him. She smiled politely before looking back down at her meal, she was re alerted when she felt her brother turn next to her and whisper into her ear "Come with me", she had stood up and followed him out wondering if anyone had noticed or if they were all still oblivious and completely drawn in by the charismatic girl.

Lydia followed her brother up the stairs and onto the roof of the café, they had always spent a fair bit of time on this roof, talking and laughing with family and when they were waiting for shifts to end of start "Are you going to push me?" she said laughing at her own joke

"You don't like Jolene" he yelled to his sister as he stood on the outdoor area stage looking back at her, not caring how loud he was, Lydia carefully made sure that the door was shut

"What? I do, of course I do Jamie, in fact I think I love her, maybe we could get matching necklaces that say 'best' and 'friend' and go on shopping sprees together" she said

"Every time she speaks you roll your eyes"

"my eyes would need some serious lubrication if I rolled my eyes every time she spoke" she said in a matter of fact tone as her brother gave her the glare that her mother had made so damn famous in their household "Obviously mum hasn't told you about my eye condition"

"And every time that you weren't rolling your eyes, you were mumbling under your breath"

"Turrets?" she said with this brief 'can I get away with it smile'

Her brother gave her a killer dead pan look before continuing to talk "I'm not the only one that noticed Lydia, Dad kicked me under the table"

"Me too" she said with enthusiasm before realising that her dad had kicked the wrong person when he had kicked her before, that her dad had been trying to kick her brother to tell him to sort it out with her and she laughed.

"Why don't you like her?" he yelled out exasperated by it all, his arms swinging back the way that someone facing a conflict in the soap operas and the dramatic TV shows would.

"You want to know why I don't like her?" she said it and he furiously nodded "You really want to know?"

"YEAH"

"I don't know" she yelled "I don't know why I hate her, it's not her"

"This isn't a cheesy breakup you can't do the whole 'It's not you it's me' thing" he was getting all tense and frustrated

"Actually it isn't me, IT'S YOU" she found herself getting louder as it escaped her mouth

"What?"

"You haven't been back in Tree Hill since Aunty Tay's wedding, you hardly call cause you're always 'busy' and when you finally do come back you bring some girl, making me feel like I have been completely replaced by this cool new Charleston chick" she said it and Jamie laughed, as her heart broke in two "You can't laugh at me when I pour my heart out to you" she said as she sulked over and sat down on the picnic bench seat, Jamie rushed over and sat down next to his emotional sister.

"You could never be replaced, you are my Lydia Bob Scott" he said throwing an arm over her shoulder as she threw her head sideways and leant on his shoulder.

"When Mum told us that you were coming home I was really excited because even if you were only staying for two days it still meant that I got some time to do the stuff that we used to do when you were living at home but you showed up with this gorgeous leggy blonde and you haven't wanted to spend any time with me, it's all about 'Joey'" she mocked

"You're an idiot" he said as she looked up at him with her big brown eyes

"That is no way to cheer a girl up" she said as she looked down and out onto the rest of the roof area.

"Do you know why I brought her here?" she shook her head against his chest "I have been spending time with her in Charleston and I think I really like her but I needed one last confirmation before I could even consider getting serious with her. The most important thing in my life is you guys, my family, and for me to even consider getting serious I need to know that you guys get along with her and that she gets along with you. You are my confirmation, if she doesn't like you; there is something wrong with her. Actually I should really swap that theory around shouldn't I?"

"SHUTUP" she said thumping his arm hard as he laughed hysterically next to her

"So I heard on the grapevine that you and Jude have something going on" he said with a smile as she backed away and looked at him with this look of shock.

"How do you know that?" she asked with a hint of a smile as she remember this morning

"Well Dad called me the other night and asked me where I kept my baseball bat, So I asked Lily what was happening and she called Sawyer and well Sawyer filled us all in on everything, I hear you kissed on the steps of TRIC" he said with a laugh as his sister looked at him outraged that he had even said that, her facial expression so hilarious that he cried of laugher.

"Bloody Sawyer, Can't I keep anything from you two?" she asked trying not to laugh at her brother slapping his own knee in a hysterical fit of giggles, before coming to a realisation and freaking out again, grabbing her brothers shoulders and shaking him to make him stop laughing "Please tell me you didn't tell dad where you keep your baseball bat" she said with this pleading in her eyes.

"Hell no, I'm not stupid" he said with a chuckle "Now Lydia Bob you are feeling neglected?" he asked composing himself and looking intently at his sister as she nodded "Come on then, we'll go for a drive and get chocolate muffins"

"CHOCOLATE MUFFIN RUNS?" she said with this gleeful smile "Wait, wait, wait the only way out is past mum and there is no way mum is going to let us just leave"

"We'll sneak out" he said with a shrug of his shoulders

"Naha our table is like in the middle of the room, no way of avoiding it" she said as he darted over to the edge of the roof "Wait are you considering pushing me again?"

"How do you feel about ab sailing down the side of the building?" he said with a laugh, she humoured him for a moment and ran over to stand next to him, they both stood leaning over the edge, with at least one foot standing firmly on the ground.

"What are you guys doing?" a voice startled them from behind; they both cautiously turned and then took in a breath of relief.

"Jumping" she said with a shrug of her shoulders

"Whoa, do you reckon you can land on your feet like a cat?" he asked walking up to them

"Probably" she had somehow caught her brothers aimless shoulder shrugs in the short amount of time she had spent around him that day.

"She is kidding Sammy" Jamie said putting a hand on each shoulder blade as Sam peered over the ledge

To be continued.


	7. Chapter 7

When we were Young – Chapter seven

Lydia is awoken to the unfamiliar noise of loud arguments, it takes her a moment to recognise that this nightmare is a reality, she recognises the voices, well of course she did, and she has known them from the moment she was born. Their voices echo through the large two story home and she feels herself shiver, partly because she was frightened and partly because hell would literally have to freeze over for her parents to ever speak in harsh tones towards each other. She found herself throwing off her duvet covers to reveal her legs bare from her pyjama shorts, she throws her legs over the side of the bed before sneaking up the hallway to the stair case which she darts down to where the wall ends and the openness begins, Lydia peers past the wall half for conformation and half to see not only what was going on but to catch a glimpse at how her parents were reacting, she looked briefly before darting up the stairs. Her mother knelt on the couch facing the kitchen where her father stood, she couldn't see her mums face but her dads sliced through her soul, so much love and tenderness continued to pour out of his gorgeous eyes even though he was incredibly frustrated and aggravated. Lydia reached the top of the stairs with the intention of going to bed and plugging her IPOD in to block out the yelling but stops as she sees her two fourteen year old siblings standing petrified in their doorways, Lydia out of instinct opened her arms because she was the older sibling and needed to be strong for them, make them feel as though everything was fine and everything was safe. They quickly ran into her embrace and for a while they just stood holding each other until Lydia asked them "Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?" and with those words the twins are walking up the hallway heading towards their big sisters bedroom, Usually her little brother would act as though he was too cool to need his big sister, to do a thing like that but tonight wasn't a regular night in the James-Scott household. Her siblings soon fell asleep on either side of her, content with the warmth and comfort but Lydia's eyes remained open and as her eyes stung from the tears that sat bubbling in the back of her eyes, she reached for her mobile, he answered after five dial tones, grogginess and concern in his tone "Lydi are you okay?"

"I'm Scared" she confesses because in this conversation she is no longer the older sibling she no longer had to remain strong.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Brooke sat on the couch in her living room, a glass of wine in her hand, a television glowing in the background, her husband Julian lying asleep on her lap, her boys are in bed but she can tell that they are far from asleep, she can hear them laughing from where she is sitting and that makes her feels complete, her phone begins to ring next to her and she briefly laughs at her ringtone that she was startled by the first time she heard, her three boys had kidnapped her phone on one boring night that she had left her phone on the kitchen bench when she had gone to have a shower, maybe it was her own singing or maybe it was the dripping of the water but she couldn't hear her boys recording themselves singing. Julian was holding the phone she assumed as his voice was the loudest, she could see the smile on his face just listening to it, Jude was singing as high as he could and Davis was practically wetting himself laughing as he sang along with them. Brooke looked down at caller I.D and smiled, picking up the phone and pressing the green flashing button "Hello Gorgeous god daughter"

"Aunty Brooke" she could hear the choke in her voice and probable tears running down her cheek

"Sawyer Baby are you okay?" she said sitting up and putting Julian's sleepy head on a pillow "come on Sawyer talk to me darling" her tone was scratchy and desperate

"Dad is going to kill me" she sobbed down the receiver

"Baby girl just tell me where you are and I will come and pick you up" she said going into action fighter mode

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jamie wanted to be there for his sister, he had seen his parents fight, he was there through those crazy hazy Nanny Carrie days when their parents were on the verge of splitting up forever but Lydia, Sam and Izzy hadn't seen that world, they were involved in a world where their parents never yelled at each other and he knew that he was raised in that world of crazy, stupid love too but he had caught a glimpse of what it was like on the other side of that love spectrum, and even though he was in Charleston and he couldn't give his sister a big supportive hug so instead, even though he had a job interview the next morning, he sat up on the phone with her until she fell asleep. He knew that this would all blow over by this time tomorrow; he knew that his parents love had survived through the harshest of circumstances and that one loud fight wasn't going to break that love, that bond that he had watched in his parents.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Brooke stepped out of the car, and walked up the path, this scenario definitely was something she had done frequently once upon a time but while it was something that she hadn't really done in a whole lifetime it was pretty much exactly the same. Party cups thrown across the lawn, the thumps she could feel in her body from the loudness of the music even though she wasn't in the house, kids jumping out of windows, running on the lawn, the door was open but she felt awkward and odd being a woman of her age, she felt like her mother. She steadied herself on the door frame, tasting the vomit in her throat just from the thought of it. Brooke knocked on the door and after a very long moment a stumbling drunk, nowhere near legal drinking age came up to the doorway this smirking look on his face as he looked her up and down "Whoa your hot, Do you go to our school?"

She scoffed "I'm old enough to be your mother" she couldn't believe she actually had said that, she had sworn back in her high school days that she would never be stupid enough to admit it to a teenage boy.

"Well if that's true you're a total MILF" he said before turning and beginning to chant it in the hallway, between the chants of MILF, Brooke grabbed his arm and swung him around

"Listen buddy, I'm looking for someone"

"I could be that someone" he smirked again

"Hey can I help you?" this male pubescent voice came up from behind her, she turned and this very handsome young teenage boy smiled at her, if he was around in her high school days she would have definitely jumped him.

"Hi I'm looking for my niece Sawyer Scott, do you know her?" she said as he looked at her intently

"Yeah I know Sawyer, come on I'll find her for you" he said leading the way into the house passed the drunk teen who's eyes Brooke felt in the back of her "Wait here" he said putting a hand out and walking up the stairs, she stood glued to the wall taking in all her surroundings and laughing, she couldn't imagine Brooke Davis not at a kegger but she never imagined Brooke Baker at a Kegger, and with that someone passed her a bright blue cup filled to the top as he gave her the eyebrows and leaned against the wall in front of her. The blonde came stumbling down the steps draped around the handsome boys arms and Brooke quickly passed the full cup to the closest person and ran to the bottom of the stairs.

"Looks like my D.U. Not I car is coming back out of retirement for the night" she said as she reached Sawyer, The handsome boy followed Brooke out of the house and to her car, where they both helped to get her in.

"I'm so sorry Aunty Brooke" Sawyer said in her hazy state

"Sawy, look who you are talking to. You ask your mum what I was like a Keg parties when I was your age, or even your dad"

"No, no, no you can't tell dad" she started to fidget and panic as Brooke hoped into the car and held her face within her hands

"I'm not going to tell him anything okay" she said as Sawyer nodded and Brooke kissed her forehead before stepping out of the car and shutting the door "Thank you so much" Brooke said to the boy as he stepped away from the car

"I hope she feels better soon" he said walking away from them in his dark blue t-shirt.

"Yeah me too" Brooke said to herself with a smile as she walked and hoped into her large car.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Brooke walked into her dark house, turning the lamp on and smiling finding her husband in the exact same spot she had left him in. Sawyer was pretty drunk so Brooke had decided to bring her home with her, she had this decision on their twelfth 'Sawyer feels sick' stop, deciding that Sawyer was in no state to see her very incredibly protective father who had a heart condition and probably would have a heart attack if he saw her this way, a vulnerable mess of blonde curls. Brooke ushered Sawyer to the bedroom she shared with her husband, going to her closet and passing the girl her own sweat pants and a white singlet. Brooke left her to get changed and walked up the hallway, throwing a blanket over her sleeping husband and picking up the phone.

"Sawyer?" the voice asked before a slapping sound and an "ow"

"Hello" said a female voice that she knew so well

"Hey P Sawyer Scott, what was that?" she asked with a smirk, looking forward to the explanation

"Sorry its twenty minutes before Sawyer's curfew and Lucas is already freaking out"

"Speaking of our gorgeous Sawyer, so she called me from that party she went to last night, Bored out of her brains and so we are going to have a sleepover, eat chocolate and talk all night" she said making an excuse for the girl whose nappy she remembered changing who was now drunk in her bed.

Peyton knew her best friend, she knew her tone of voice and what was happening based purely on the way she said words, and the way she was saying things now, Peyton knew she was hiding something from her, something about their eldest daughter. But Peyton knows Brooke and she knows that Brooke will always protect Sawyer and that she has nothing to worry about "Thanks Brooke" she says with a concerned smile as they hung up the phone. With that Brooke walked back up the hallway to her bedroom, she tucked Sawyer into bed, before getting comfortable on the rocking chair in their bedroom, she was going to have to be comfortable if she was going to stay up all night and watch her best friends daughter sleep.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"You didn't see it this morning, it was so awkward. Dad put his hand on mums elbow and she shrugged it away" Lydia said looking into the distance where her little sister and brother played in the distance. They had all woken up at a similar time, carefully walked downstairs into the war zone, the eerily silent war zone where there father slept on the couch. And with the look on her little sisters face, Lydia made the decision to go for an early morning walk to the river court, where she knew Jude would be and she wanted to get the kids out just in case there was more fighting.

"Probably because the elbow isn't very intimate" he said throwing the ball to Sam before looking back at Lydia

"Jude! I'm being serious" she said frowning and sulking, not sure what she would do if they were still fighting when they got home.

"You just wait Lydia; they'll be fine they just have to have some make-up sex….."

"Eww" she said looking at him outraged

"And everything will work out fine, intimate touching in no time" he said noticing how upset she was and pulling her into her embrace, kissing the top of her forehead, her face looked like a little sad chipmunk squished against his chest "I have to get home"

"Okay" she said quietly against his chest, her brother and sister still playing away in front of them

"Will you be okay?" he asked looking down at her as she nodded, squirming out of his embrace before he kissed her on the lips and ran in the direction of his home.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jude walked into the house, panting into the kitchen opening the fridge and retrieving a bottle of water.

"Get a bottle for me" Davis yelled over the kitchen from his spot on the couch

"Need refreshment from your hard morning of sitting on the couch?" he asked with a smile as his brother gave him the 'ah yeah' look, Jude grabbed a water bottle to pass to his brother but licked it and laughed. Davis tackled Jude onto the couch and they began to wrestle.

"boys stop" Brooke said walking out into the living room, this was a regular sighting in the Baker household "We have company" she said as Sawyer walked out, her eyes hanging out of her head, she briefly waved before slowly walking over to the couch as the boys look at her sort of confused and sitting down between the Baker boys, throwing her head on Davis' shoulder as they all leant backwards. Julian kissed Brooke as she stood watching them from the kitchen, she goes to pour herself a coffee but is disrupted by the front door opening and her best friend walking in with her sweet infectious smile and her sunglasses which she slipped up onto the top of her head walking over to the couch and kissing her daughters head.

"Hi mama" Sawyer said with all the strength she had in her hung over state

"I went to Karen's café and got you some of the best hang over cures, you're going to need you strength for the grounding you are going to get when you get home" she said passing her a bag and then walking to where Brooke and Julian stood. Brooke watches as Peyton eyes her off, Brooke wondered if Peyton was about to tell her off "Did you stay up with her all night?" she felt this warm feeling in her heart just thinking about it

"No Biggie" she said grabbing one of the coffees that Peyton had brought in, Peyton crossed the bench and pulled Brooke into her embrace

"You are the bestest friend ever"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Tonight is different from the previous one, instead of hearing yelling, bitterness, tears and anger she can hear moans and grumbles and sighs, and while she is initially grossed out by the idea of her parents having sex, she feels this sense of happiness because everything seems like it is back to normal. She smiles, grabs her IPod and blocks out all the noise that surrounds her.

To be continued!

Let me know what you think, and what you want more of in the next couple of chapters!


	8. Chapter 8

When we were young – chapter eight

Jamie sat anxiously perched on the foot rest that sat in front of the couch, they were just waiting for one more person to make this meeting possible, his dad sat with his little sister Izzy at his side, a massive smile on her gorgeous face, She was such a morning person that little girl, his little brother Sammy was sitting on the steps looking tired and bored out of his mind.

"Your mum is going to be up soon, maybe we should just start without her" his father said as he leaned back on the couch.

"She will be here" Jamie said looking up towards the stairs, and like a mirage she appeared all bed hair and sleepy eyes as she took the steps slowly, giving her little brother a high five as she walked past him "Told you she would show up, Good to see you Lydi" he said with a smile watching her

"I'm only here cause you stole my pillow" she said giving him an evil look before sitting on the couch next to her dad and putting her head on her father's knee, he smiled and patted his little girls head, it didn't surprise him that she wasn't a morning person, exactly like her mama first thing in the moment.

"Okay well we have to make this quick, mum can't know I'm here"

"Why not?" Izzy said overly excited as her bigger sister moaned and covered her ears.

"Because little Iz it has to be a surprise, like the party so we have to keep it quite'

"Where are you going to stay then? I can call Uncle Lucas" his dad asked

"Nah I'm going to stay here"

"You're staying here?" Nathan asked as Jamie nodded "But you don't want your mum to know that you are here?" Jamie nodded and his dad laughed "now how exactly are you going to pull that off?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm like a ninja" he said as all of the family that had gathered in the living room laughed "Lydia you are in charge of convincing mum to come to TRIC, Peyton is organising the 'Home grown Hero' gig, and Uncle Lucas is going to help you set up"

"What's our job?" Izzy asked a bit disappointed that her brother hadn't mentioned her in this whole birthday party scheme

"Your job little Miss Iz is to keep this a secret, it is also your job to keep your big brother fed and keep mum unsuspicious"

"This isn't going to work" Lydia said sitting up and looking at her brother with a smile "You are such an idiot"  
>"Have a little faith Lydia" he said with a smirk before poking his tongue out at her.<p>

"CAWWWWWW" Sam said from the step before running up the stairs, that was the signal that they had decided on as a warning that there mum was coming, It was a whole family thing since Uncle Lucas began it with his Aunt Karen and Uncle Keith, Jamie quickly ran up the hallway as Sam worked on keeping his mum distracted "GOOOD MORNING MAMA" he said hugging her tightly around the waist blocking her from going down the stairs

"Good morning baby" she said as she kissed his head "Let's go have some breakfast" she said as Sam let go but walked slowly down the stairs

"We are going down the stairs" he said loudly as his mum looked confused and laughed

"Good morning baby" Nathan said meeting her at the bottom of the stairs and hugging her and blocking the hallway as Lydia quickly tried to hide her brother's bags.

"Wow it's not my birthday for another two days what's with all the hugs" she asked with a smile as Nathan let her go and they returned to seemingly normal life, Haley looked around and her husband wrapped his arms around her as she continued to look

"What's up?" he asked attempting to look where she was looking, he knew exactly what she was thinking

"I thought that I heard Jimmy Jam's voice" she said with a sulk grabbing onto her husband's arm as it wrapped around her neck and rested on her shoulder blade, there was no doubt that she had missed her first born child so much when he had decided to up and move and he could tell that she was disappointed that what she thought she heard wasn't real, little did she know that it was actually real and that in two days she would see him. Actually Nathan didn't doubt that despite Jamie's obvious Ninja skills that his mama would track his scent in the house and find him hiding in the spare bedroom.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What's on for the rest of your day Missy?" Haley asked as she and her daughter walked up the stairs of TRIC together.

"Ah you know, visit Aunty Peyton with my gorgeous mother and then you know go hang out with Jude"

"Oh Jydia" Haley said with a sigh

"What did you just say mum?" Lydia asked looking at her mother as she waved to Chase as they walked through the bar and into the main office of Red bedroom

"Well Brooke and I were talking and we decided that if you and Jude are going to be going out that we would have to think of a cool name for the two of you"

"A name?" Lydia asked with a worried look on her face

"Well you know how your dad and I are Naley." Haley said with a smile trying not to laugh at the face her daughter was pulling at her right that very moment "So we didn't like the name Lude, Lyudia or Judia so we settled upon the name Jydia"

"It's like it's you and dad's life mission to embarrass me in all aspects of my own teen hood" she said trying to hide the fact that she was blushing

"Well that's our job because we are your parents." Haley said with a laugh "Did you know that I have changed your boyfriends bum?"

"Please stop it" Lydia said as they walked into Red Bedroom records and Lydia gave her Aunty the look to tell her that now was the time to convince.

"Well if it isn't Haley James Scott and her equally attractive counterpart Lydia Scott, am I glad to see you or what" she said standing up from behind her desk to leaning in front of it as Lydia and Haley sat down

"Right back at you" Haley said looking up intently at her sister in law

"So I have news" Peyton said with a smile as Haley looked at her inviting her to continue telling her "What are you doing in two nights time?"

"Two days' time?" Haley asked with a laugh

"I mean I know it is your birthday but what are you actually doing?"

"Hopefully having a romantic dinner with my husband and watching a movie with my kids and a giant bowl of popcorn. Why?"

"Well I was sort of hoping that you could help me out at TRIC is all, I have decided that we are going to have an open mike night, were going to call it 'Home town Heroes' and since you are one of our Home town heroes I thought that maybe you would grace us with a number?" Peyton asked with her pearly white smile of convincing. "I have already signed Chris Keller and Alex Dupre up to sing us a couple of songs it would be fun. Plus we could really use the help tending bar and checking ids, it's going to be an all age's gig."

"I don't know Peyton I really just wanted a relaxed birthday" Haley said looking at her and trying to find an easy way to let her down.

"Can I go mum?" Lydia asked as her Aunt gave her the 'quick step in' look

"Only if you buy me a really nice birthday present" Haley said with a laugh "Of course you can go Lydia"

"Actually I don't think I will" Lydia said as her mum and Aunty abruptly turned to her, Haley because she was concerned that her daughter had flipped so haphazardly and her Aunty because she was supposed to be convincing her mum to come to this thing not convincing herself to not attend.

"Why not?"

"Well it's your birthday and I really like the sound of that big bowl of popcorn"

"Lydia" she said trying to extract all the information she could out of her daughter.

"It just makes me nervous you know all that alcohol being around, and all those dicks from high school being idiots, If you guys were coming it would be a completely different story but you know I just don't trust all of them, but I get why you don't want to come, it's your birthday"

"Would it really make you feel better if I was here with your dad?" she didn't know if her sudden change in feelings was due to her daughter being nervous or if it was all due to her feeling as though her kids needed her still. Lydia nodded not allowing herself to smile yet. "Okay then well Peyton count me in, I'll help out"

"Oh thank you so much Foxy" Peyton said jumping up a little before going over and hugging Haley.

"Okay well now I have to drop off Lydia so she can make out with her boyfriend"

"Oh I didn't get the end of your message, are we calling them Lude or Jydia" she said with a smile

"Mum you didn't" Lydia asked turning bright red and looking at her mother absolutely outraged

"I only sent a message to one hundred of our closest family and friends, it's your first boyfriend and it's a mother's duty"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jamie had run back into the spare bedroom with hands full of food and the whole cookie jar when his mother's car drove up the driveway, he hoped that his ninja skills would keep him hidden because if it did play out right it would be a really great surprise. She walked into the house and straight past the spare bedroom, he heard her steps go up the hallway, getting more distant and harder to hear, so he grabbed a celebratory biscuit and crunched down on it. He stood up to open the window but as he walked back he kicked the bed really hard creating the loudest thud that he knew for sure his mum would hear. Jamie began assessing his options, there was the hide behind the door, hide in the closet, maybe even under the bed but the window came to be the best option, so he and the cookie jar jumped out and hid just as Haley opened the door to the bedroom with Jamie's baseball bat in her hands.

"Is anyone in here?" she asked as Jamie tried to stop himself from laughing as he sat against the wall under the window pane. Inside the room Haley determined that there was no one in there but felt this eerily goose bump reaction when she saw that the window was open, she walked over cautiously and quickly shut it, locking it as she did so. She then picked up her mobile and dialled "Hey Luke it's me, I think someone just tried to break into the house can you please come over before I get brutally murdered, actually if I got murdered I wouldn't have to age in two days' time" she said as her best friend laughed on the other end of the phone. "Okay cool see you in a minute" she said before hanging up the phone and taking a firm grasp of the baseball bat.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Luke pulled his truck up in his brother's driveway; he knew that Haley wasn't in immediate danger so while he headed in the direction with haste he wasn't as hasty as he could be. As he approached the front door he looked around and from his view of the side of the house he could see two feet. He walked around puzzled at who it could possibly be, as he walked around the corner he found his twenty three year old nephew chowing down into the family cookie jar.

"Jamie what are you doing here?" he asked as he approached him

"Shh. Mum can't know I am here"

"Then what are you doing sitting outside on the grass eating cookies?" Lucas asked in a hushed tone

"I was being a ninja but mum came home and I accidently kicked the bed and had to climb out of the window and well now she has locked it, would you like a cookie?"

"Well actually that sort of explains why your mum thinks that she has an intruder" Lucas said with a laugh as Jamie opened the cookie jar and he picked out two

"Hey will you do me a favour? Can you unlock the window while you are in there?" he asked as his Uncle laughed and nodded

"LUCAS" Haley called out obviously anxious about the mysterious open window, she also obviously found the Lucas' car was out the front

"Hey Hales I'm coming" Lucas said as he picked up his pace and ran to the front door

"Hey" she said as he hugged her tightly and then released "Where did you get the biscuits from?" she asked as he turned her and pushed her into the house

"Show me the intruders" Lucas said with mockery in his tone as Haley laughed, she stopped walking when her phone rang; she smiled uncontrollably when she read who it was

"Hey Jimmy Jam" she said with the excitement of a kid on Christmas eve "What are you doing calling me?"

"Hey ma" Jamie said trying not to speak too loudly because he didn't know where exactly in the house she was "I have to tell you something"

"Okay baby shoot" she said as Lucas looked at her wondering what the hell was going on

"I can't come up this weekend" he said in a sombre tone

"What?" Haley asked a little heartbroken

"I know it's your birthday but I can't get the weekend off work, I just have too much stuff to do up here, I'm so sorry mum"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Nathan walked in with his three youngest kids at his side, laughing and talking away, he was engulfed by the smell of a home cooked meal, and he felt himself smile and his stomach grumble as he walked into the kitchen, his kids had stopped abruptly in front of the kitchen just looking in. Nathan wondered if Ninja Jamie had failed yet as he turned the corner and approached the kitchen. His wife had filled the whole island bench with food, that is what she did when she was pre-occupied and with that she turned around with tears streaming down her cheeks and red puffy eyes he rushed to her side. "What's wrong?"

"Oh it's nothing" Haley said shrugging him off and wiping the tears from under her eyes as he hugged her anyway "Jamie can't come for my birthday" she sobbed against his shoulder as he accidently smiled.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Brooke tried to open the bathroom door but found it locked, in frustration she stormed up the hallway "Who the hell is in the bathroom?" she asked as she walked into the living room to find her husband and her son Davis sitting on the couch looking at her "Well I guess that answers my question then" she said before walking up the hallway again before pounding on the bathroom door "Jude are you in there?" she asked

"Yes mum and I would appreciate some privacy please" he yelled back through the door making his mother more frustrated

"What the hell are you doing in there?" she yelled again through the door

"Nothing" he answered quickly with a muffled voice behind the door

"PLEEEEEASE JUDE!" she said exasperated "You're not the only one that has to get ready for Haley's thing"

"I'm coming keep your pants on" he said before opening the door to his frustrated mother who looked at him strangely "what?"

"What is that smell?"

"Nothing" he said trying to get away from Brooke and succeeding for an ever so brief moment

"Is that aftershave? Why are you wearing aftershave?" she said all of a sudden feeling like a detective off one of those crime shows that she dedicated her evening too.

"I just wanted to smell nice" he said trying to avoid his mother's 'you're not telling me the whole story' face "Fine, it's sort of my first date with Lydia and I wanted to smell nice for her, satisfied?" he asked as he walked up the hallway away from her and the truth was she was satisfied, she had this goofy smile on her face as she watched her son walk away, Jude Baker had his first official crush, well first crush she approved of. Brooke let out one of her little 'I'm really excited' screams before heading towards the bathroom but before she could get in Jude ran past her in a haze and ran straight into the bathroom and shut the door, she pounded on it for a second before giving up and walking to the living room "What happened?" she asked knowing from the look on her husband and sons faces that something funny had happened while she was out of the room.

"Davis messed up his hair" Julian said with a laugh as Brooke chuckled and fell down between them on the couch

"Do it to me and I will literally kill you" she said pointing to her son who smiled cheekily at her.

X-x-x-x-x-x

The music was pumping, she could feel it running through her veins, it had always been like that in TRIC for her, and the music would take her to a whole different reality. Haley stood behind the bar as Peyton walked up, looking up to the stage where Junk and Fergie did their own rendition of 'My Humps' by the black eyed peas.

"Hey Birthday girl, are you having a good time?" she asked wrapping an arm around her waist, Haley turned and nodded as Chase walked up to her with this smile and a drink in his hand, passing it to her and enthusing that she drink it

"It's called the Birthday girl, I made it for you" she laughed and then took a sip, gagging and putting the glass down on the bench

"Are you trying to kill me before my next birthday?" she asked as he looked at her outraged "If I was Chris I would slap you right now"

"Speaking of Chris" Peyton said pointing to the stage as he walked out with his guitar 'Haley James' and a smile on his face, he approached the microphone

"Hi, I would like to dedicate this song to a great friend of mine whose birthday it is today. Her name is Haley James Scott and I'm going to sing a song that we used to do on tour" he said strumming his guitar "Can you believe that she doesn't even know that this is her surprise party?" he said with a smirk as all of her extended family who had been hiding out of plain sight jumped out at her and yelled 'Surprise' as Haley cried spotting her eldest son and all that her family had done for her while Chris Keller sung his heart out.

To be continued 

*Authors note* Thanks to '**garnetandgold47**' who sent me a really lovely review and a lovely idea for an all ages gig, I know that it isn't exactly an all ages gig but I hope you like anyway. Thanks for the idea and thank you for the feedback.

Read me, enjoy me and Review me please! I would really appreciate any feedback or any suggestions about what I could do better. Like more presence of different characters and the relationships between them. I'm going to try and put more Sawyer centric, Jude centric and Davis centric chapters but I do love Lydia so don't be surprised if you see more of her in the next couple of weeks. Let me know what you think should happen next

Maggie Frost xxx

P.S I just read over this and technically this is more Jamie centric and Haley centric than it is Lydia centric, that's a change


	9. Chapter 9

Don't turn off the lights!

"Mum we really have to go, I have cheer training" Izzy complained, putting a hand in her damp light brown hair walking behind her mother into the shelter of TRIC. It was raining heavily and just on dusk, she was with her mother and her sister desperately trying to be ten places at once.

"Calm the Farm baby Iz, mama bear works miracles! I have seen it with my own eyes" Lydia said with a smile back to her little sister, Haley who stood in front of the two girls smiled

"Yeah calm your farm Izzy I just have to run up to Red Bedroom and get my laptop" she said with a laugh frantically rushing through the emptiness that was TRIC. She walked up the stairs finding her two nieces playing pool and their mother sitting on the phone behind the desk, Haley smiled as she walked past the pool table and crossed behind the desk. Peyton looked up and waved before hanging up the phone herself.

"Sorry I just have to grab my laptop, do you want me to take Sawy to cheer training?" she asked as she scooped up her laptop and looked over in the direction of the girls

"Didn't you hear miss thing?" Peyton said looking up at a clueless Haley "Lucas just called to tell me that the rain is too heavy and that cheer and basketball training is cancelled"

"Guess that means that I can go straight home" said Haley with a smile

"Yeah and put your feet up" Peyton responded with a smile as she watched them all head out the doors

"Oh I wish" said Haley with a smile before waving goodbye and gesturing for the girls to do the same, as she rounded up the girls and head to leave the lights above them flickered before turning themselves off automatically.

"Spoooooky" Sawyer said as her little sister Ellie came closer to her for moral support, not willing to make the longer trip to her mother; Sawyer would just have to do.

"Whoa" said Izzy as Haley walked over to the window

"Looks like the whole street is out" Haley said stepping back over to the room as a large crack of thunder announced itself and all six girls screamed, when the initial shock disappeared the two eldest Scott daughters let out a mammoth laugh

"So what do we do now Mum?" Lydia asked as she sat herself up on the pool table

"We stay here until the power comes back on" Peyton said walking over to her youngest daughter who still shook from the thunder and brought her into a hug, leaning down to kiss her forehead and assure her that everything was going to be fine.

"I'm going to call Nathan and let him know where we are" Haley said reaching into her bag and pulling out her phone.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Yeah Hales we are fine, both the boys are here so is Lucas, Leo, Jude and Davis" he said looking over to the stands where the other six boys sat, Jamie was in town for a week to make his mum happy "I was just about to call Brooke and let her know that the boys are all good". The boys always arrived the earliest to Basketball training, it meant extra hoop time and not only did the boys love that but assistant to the assistant to the assistant coach Nathan did too. All the boys constantly bounced ideas off each other; they all had the advantage of knowing and loving the game and a previous commitment to the Ravens. All the boys had shown up early as they always did with the Baker twins in tow they had arrived to the news of a cancelled training. "Love you babe" Nathan said before hanging up the phone to his brothers smirks.

"I Love you babe" Lucas responded

"Shut up man!" Nathan said laughing it off before looking around "I know I should have recognised earlier but where is Jagelski?"

"Out of town visiting Jenny, it is killing him to not be living close to her" he said not willing to allow himself to think that that could be him in a few years' time, Sawyer was growing up like mad and soon he would have to accept that his gorgeously crazy daughter would eventually leave the nest, Nathan recognised this look and didn't press the issue as he had that same feeling in the pit of his stomach but he had buried it further down because Lydia wasn't quite at the stage of her life just yet.

"Dude what happened?" Jude baker said walking out from the change rooms "One minute I was in the change room changing into my gear in the light that allowed me to look at my amazing physique" he said as everyone around him laughed, Nathan not as hard as the others as Jude had recently taken a fancy to his eldest daughter, something he was not keen about because Lydia wasn't supposed to date until she was at least forty five, they had discussed it "And the next thing all the lights are out and I am putting on my shorts backwards" he said laughing at himself

"Blackout man" Sammy said getting up from his spot on the stands and walking off the court, returning with a ball

"Did you call mum?" Jude said turning around to his brother Davis, who shook his head "You know how she worries" he continued

"Chill mummy's boy my dad just went to do it" Leo said laughing at his own statement before Sammy threw the basketball at him "I say we have a moonlight game boys" he said standing up and catching the ball before throwing it to Jude

"Hey Nerd Burger put down the book and join in" Jude said throwing it towards his brother, who surprisingly caught it and in that instant decided that he would take up the old basketball for a night.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Okay so the boys are stuck at the Brian Durham gym with the Scott's" Brooke said putting her phone on the bench and walking over into the living room to sit next to her husband on the couch

"Cool" Julian said as his wife wrapped herself around his torso, Julian got this look in his eye and began kissing Brooke.

"Whoa mister what do you think you are doing?" she asked with a giggle succumbing to the kisses

"Well I just had this crazy idea" he said momentarily looking up into his wife's gorgeous eyes "The boys are away for at least another hour, by the time the power comes back on and they drive back, so there is no chance of them accidently walking in" he said referring to the time that both the boys had recently walked in on an early morning sex session, just thinking of that horrible day made her shudder. "Plus it's romantic by the candlelight"

"Not if you burn your bum it's not" she said with a smile

"Don't wreck this moment Brooke" he said with a cheeky grin as she giggled "Just for that you need punishment" he said lifting her upwards and carrying her

"Where are you taking me?" she said as she went to kiss him

"To the bedroom?" he said as he stopped walking and looked at his wife

"That's too far away" she complained

"You are so right" he said turning back around so that he was standing in front of the arm of the chair, he then threw her down and jumped on top of her as she laughed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"I've got candles" Peyton said in an enthusiastic tone as she walked back into the room, tripping over her own feet as she walked into the room, the group that was sitting on the floor laughed at her. She could tell that her youngest daughter Ellie was scared of the absence of light and that she was trying to be brave so she walked over and sat down next to her, smiling at her in the darkness

"Hey are you guys up here?" a voice bellowed from the doorway, it was a male voice and while they weren't nervous they had no idea who it was, Lydia stood up and walked over to the door her mother cautiously looking up to her ready to make a pounce if she got pulled out of the doorway, Haley had experienced a lot of kidnap in her life and so while she didn't let it get to her she was casually wary of it all, her daughter Lydia soon returned with two males that smiled as they walked over to the group of girls.

"What are you guys doing here?" Peyton asked looking up to Chase and Chris as they sat down in the little circle that the girls had created

"We were in the storeroom and all of a sudden the lights were out, we didn't really mind anyway doesn't matter if we drink in the dark or the light" Chase said as the boys looked at each other smirking and high fived.

"So what are we going to do now?" Sawyer said with a massive grin on her face as she leaned forward, looking around the circle at all the faces of the family that surrounded them, the look of her scared little sister, shuddering and inching closer to their mother as each strike of thunder and lightning struck. Sawyer decided that she was going to distract her little sister and pass the time that they had to wait at TRIC by quicker. "Let's play truth or dare" she said as Chris let out a girlish scream

"I love truth or dare"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Wow" Jude said puffed out and sweaty as he walked over to his twin brother who was leaning over panting with his hands on his knees "You're pretty good Davis, you know at this whole basketball thing, nearly as good as me" Jude said with a playful punch to his brothers ribs

"Thanks" Davis said standing up and walking over to the benches and grasping desperately for a bottle of water, he did have to admit that it was a kind of cool night, getting to hang out and play ball with his uncles and their families on a proper basketball court. Usually when they were at family events he would hang out with Lydia and Sawyer like he always had whether the boys were playing basketball outside or not, that was entertainment enough but he was actually having major fun tonight and while he knew this was just one of those magical nights and that he probably wouldn't being doing this every time they had a family dinner or every time he came to watch his brother play but hey you have to embrace life when it through a blackout at you in the middle of basketball gym

X-x-x-x-x-x

"So was it good?" Sawyer asked swinging her legs over the sides of the stage at TRIC, they had played truth or dare and talked and now they had moved from Red Bedroom down to TRIC because they were getting hungry and while Peyton had a half-eaten candy bar in her purse they had decided that Chase had food in the back that would be easier to share than having to cut the preloved mars bar into eighths. Chase was just going to head down and bring up a selection but Peyton, Haley and Chris had all wanted a drink to get through the rest of the darkness, with that the little girls were following down the stairs and while Lydia and Sawyer originally planned to stay upstairs and talk about important things like boys, it was creepily dark, quiet and a little creaky which meant that they were soon running down the steps and into the arms of their mothers. Lydia now sat next to her on the stage looking at her in this strange way that indicted that she had no idea of what her best friend was on about "I'm talking tonsil hockey with Jude Baker" she said with a smile as her Lydia giggled next to her

"I'm not going to lie it was, is pretty fantastically groovy" Lydia said a bit lost for words, touching her lips and diving into the memory of the last time she had locked lips "Just so tender and warm and…"

"Hey Little Ladies" Chris Keller said as he sat down next to Lydia who jumped as she heard his voice, they both turned to him, Lydia looked at him and hoped that he hadn't been listening to what she was talking about, she had known him for as long as she could remember and he was a part of their family in fact he was uncle Chris and she definitely didn't want him to know that she was kissing boys. Chris smirked as he looked from nervous Lydia's face to hysterical Sawyers face "What are we talking about?" he asked a little bit wary of the situation he had put himself in.

"Oh you know just boys" Sawyer said with a smirk before elbowing her cousin "And you know kissing" Sawyer said letting out an incredible laugh as Lydia's face turned red and she placed it in her own hands

"Sawyer" Lydia mumbled from her hands as Chris looked anywhere but to the girl and Sawyer apologised furiously in her cousin's ear before she sat up and looked nervously at her uncle

"Oh god, you're kissing boys now? I don't think uncle Keller can handle this" this was so awkward for him, he could remember her laughing at his corny jokes, dancing on his feet, he remembered the day she spoke in the third person because he was doing it, the first time she had called him her uncle or the time she had sat on his lap at a table at Karen's café one night and he had shown her how to play the guitar, all this stuff felt like literally just yesterday and he wanted to keep it that way, there was no way she was kissing boys already, he wasn't ready for that "I need a stiff drink CHASE" he said standing up and jumping off the stage before walking up to the bar.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Brooke was lying naked next to her husband a massive smile on her face covered by the throw rug that usually lay on the top of the couch, she lay listening to her husband's steady breathing and the delicate noise of rain drops falling heavily on the roof top, she looked to her right at the candles that were nearly burnt down to their wicks, she smiled as her husband turned his head to face hers, he moved forward to kiss her and start it all up again when the lights flickered and turned back on again, connected to Julian's face Brooke giggled before finishing the kiss and sitting up.

"Whoa where do you think you're going girly?" he asked throwing an arm around her bare waist and attempting to pull her back down to where he lay

"The lights are back on" she said with her sexy husky voice and a laugh "and the rain is easing"

"So?" he said sitting up and kissing down his wife's back

"Which means that the boys will be home soon and I really don't want a repeat of the last time they caught us, well you know" she said as Julian groaned and released her so she could stand up.

X-x-x-x-x-x

As the lights turned back on life turned back into its usual pace, Peyton and Haley took their girls home and Chase went home with Chris and his girls Alex and Lila, Brooke and Julian ran around their living room cleaning any essence of a good time, throwing the clothes that they had managed to scatter around the room back into their bedroom anxiously waiting for their kids to get back. The boys grabbed their bags and headed to their cars, it definitely was one of those nights that wouldn't be easily forgotten.

To be continued

*Authors Note* Sorry this might not have been my best chapter but I have had a lack of inspiration lately and I just felt as though I needed to get a chapter out there, I am going to try for one a week but I can't promise anything. I Hope you are enjoying this story and if it isn't exactly what you are looking for or want review me or send me an email and let me know how I can improve it for you! I am thinking about writing another story based around these kids and their parents when they were younger, about the same time that Lucas and Peyton moved back to Tree Hill in my other story and about the same time that the flash forward in the last ever episode, I also will be doing some explaining of Chase's little girl Lila and another Tree Hill addition that happens in my mind at the same time, there will also be a story set around the time between season 6 and season 7 involving a funeral that brings Karen, Deb, Lily, Lucas, Peyton, Sawyer, Haley, Nathan, Jamie and Dan back together. Okay thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

When we were Young – chapter ten

"And Sammy passes it to Isabella who nearly falls back when she catches it, she throws it to dad whose being crowded by other members of the team, the championship player has to throw it back to Sammy, the real question is can Sammy get the orange in the fruit bowl?" Lydia said standing up on her chair using her best commentator's voice, she had practiced with Mouth. They all watched intently as Sam levelled his aim before throwing the orange which they watched in the open air before it landed in the middle of the fruit bowl and they all cheered "IT'S A SWISH" Lydia yelled at the top of her lungs as her mother walked into the room behind them with the washing basket on her hip, she let out a laugh as she watched her children quickly scattered and cleaned up the mess they had created.

"Okay cheeky monkeys go and get ready for bed, you two dishes stat" she said pointing to her husband and her eldest daughter who groaned at the word dishes. They walked all the dishes over to the kitchen, getting into an intense bubble fight as Nathan washed and Lydia dried, Haley stood making packed tomorrows lunches for the twins laughing at the relationship that Nathan and Lydia shared, thanking her lucky stars that she was with Nathan and that he was the father of her children, she was drawn out of her world of adoration when the phone rang from where it sat on the kitchen table, Nathan turned all gloved up and she quickly realised that she was going to have to answer it, she put the glad wrap down and walked across to the table as the twins ran past her in a haze and joined in with the madness, and because of the laughter surrounding her she answered the phone with a smile on her face "Hello, yes this is she" she said her smile quickly transforming to a frown, a finger going in her ear to try and block out the noise from the kitchen and grasp the information, when the information finally reached her brain one moment she felt lightheaded and felt herself let out with painful noise and the next she was in her husband's arms, and the phone was no longer connected to her ear, her kids were looking at her so confused, Lydia was slowly making her way around so much being said in her vulnerable eyes and her two littlest kids were looking at her petrified from where they sat on the bench but right now she couldn't care, she instead looked up to Nathan who had gone as white as a ghost. Nathan hung up the phone and she clutched at him, the voices that surrounded her didn't seem to exist in this moment in time but through it all in a haze she could hear her daughters pleas for them to tell her what had happened.

"Okay" Nathan said to make sure that his voice still existed still gripping onto his petrified and sobbing wife "There has been an accident, Jamie.." his name was mentioned in that sentence and he was forced to watch as his eldest daughter broke down and his twins faces droop "Jamie was in the car with Chuck and they had an accident" he had to remember that his kids didn't need the main details of it all that they still remained just kids "Chuck is okay"

"And Jamie?" she asked tears streaming down her face, doing everything she could to stay standing

"Jamie hasn't woken up from the accident" he said breaking down into a pile of tears as the rest of the family did the same thing barely noticing as the front door swung open and the high heels clunked up the hallway

"I said I would return your dvd's" she said with a smile as she walked into the room her heart sinking as she looked at the faces of the broken Scott family "What happened?"

"Jamie" was all Lydia could manage to get out before Brooke slid behind her catching her before she could fall.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Nathan and Haley were now on the drive to hell, the drive to their son who may never wake again, a son whose smile they may never see again. They had managed to fill Brooke in who despite the fact that she was going to burst into tears at any second she sprung into perfect Brooke Davis action and sent them out the door to be with their son, swearing that she would fill everyone in so that they didn't have to deal with all of it and taking care of their other three kids who were all emotional wrecks at this very moment in time and she didn't blame them. James Lucas Scott was the families' big tall hunky rock that would do anything for his family and his friends, the little kid who brought hope and inspiration to those that surrounded him. Brooke had called everyone she could think of, some close family driving up to the hospital to be with Nathan and Haley but most coming to Nathan and Haley's house because huddling together brought some comfort in events like this, Brooke wanted to be up at the hospital to wait with her family but she knew that while she couldn't do anything other than wait at the hospital while if she was here she could attempt to soothe Lydia, Sam and Isabella in any way that she could. She hadn't broken down yet and she wasn't going to break down, it was her job to be strong but when he husband walked in with her two teenage boys who idealised the ground Jamie walked on and Lila-Mag over his shoulder sleeping, the severity of it all hit her, Chase and Alex were on their way to be by Chuck's side through this and with the sight of her husband she was crying and running into his arms a look of equal horror on his face.

Jude walked past his parents and the massive group huddled in the living room surrounding a phone clutching at coffee cups that Karen had brought in for them, not stopping for anything, this isn't where he needed to be at that moment in time and while his mum yelled after him he found himself darting up the stairs and up the hallway to the bedroom door that made his heart skip a beat but he put that aside and knocked "Please leave me alone" she yelled from inside the room, he could tell she was crying and without hesitation he threw the door open "I thought I said to, oh" she said turning around and seeing him, he looked at her brown eyes that were now red and streaks down her gorgeous cheeks.

"Everyone else is down stairs do you want to come?" he asked knowing full well what the answer would be she shook her head as more tears fell from her eyes, he found himself without a moment of hesitation sitting down on her bed and wrapping his arms around her

"He has to be alright" she sobbed body wrenching tears, tears that a girl her size shouldn't have been able to muster "He is my Jamie, I need my Jamie" she sobbed as she held onto him for dear life.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jamie had been in a side on collision with another car whilst driving home from a party with Chuck, Chuck was driving when the car had hit, while initially thrown by the crash he was left relatively unharmed and quickly ran to the side of his best friend who remained unconscious the whole time, he sobbed as he waited for the ambulance. Chuck only needed a couple of stiches where Jamie needed lifesaving surgery.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Haley stood anxiously at the nurses' station; her head turning furiously as the nurse standing in front of her ask her about one hundred seemingly useless questions, her long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, her eyes puffy, her mouth pursed and an exhausted and emotionally drained look on her face, her husband watching her from where he sat in the waiting room, his attention not leaving his fragile wife. Nathan felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to where his brother stood a sombre look on his face, his wife Peyton standing next to him with a tray filled with coffee in her hand; he stood up hugging both his brother and his sister in law.

"This is useless, how the hell is this going to help my son?" she said louder than she expected as she threw her hands down hard onto the cold silver counters of the hospital, she was so overwhelmed and tired, she felt all alone in an unfair world where you had to wait for what seemed like forever to know the fate of your own son, she felt his warm hand on the small of her back and she instantly crumbled into his arms, he folded her into him and held her as tight as he could making it feel as though they were one and the truth of the matter is that is how he usually felt when he was around her, Nathan knew that all the family and friends who were beginning to mosh pit the waiting room were watching them but that didn't matter, his son mattered and his wife's heart breaking mattered to him, his children at least an hour away were suffering and he couldn't be there for them, that was what mattered right now, what others thought didn't even warrant a second thought in his brain right now. He kissed the top of his wife's head and she looked up at him with her big Haley James eyes of gorgeousness "I'll fill these out, you go sit down babe" he said pulling her in tightly for one more moment before releasing her and picking up the pen that the nurse in front of him with the sympathetic eyes passed to him, he turned and looked back to his wife who sat with her head on the shoulder of Lucas who had one arm around her as she held the hand of Peyton, Clay walked in and leaned down in front of her with Quinn standing behind him, he turned back and looked down at the sheet in front of him "Name" he mumbled under his breath as he put pen to paper "James Lucas Scott".

Even though she was surrounded by friends and family, even though she was in the arms of her best friend, Haley felt cold and alone. While she was finding much solace in staring off into the distance, letting her mind wander and worry about her amazing son, but out of the corner of her eye she saw his face and automatically she felt herself moving, ignoring her family as they called her name.

"I'm so sorry Mrs Scott" he said as she approached him, a look that he had never personally seen but one he had heard of, the protective mother 'you have hurt my kid and now are dead to me' look

"Were you drinking Chuck?" she said looking at him straight in the eyes and not giving anything, no emotion, just a dead pan stare waiting for him to respond as she heard the foot steps behind her, she knew exactly who it was

"Hales" he said as calmly as he could, he knew how to deal with her, he knew how to soothe her, well of course he did he had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. Lucas placed his hands on either arm trying to get her to back away from it all, at the same time that Alex and Chase walked in and stood next to Chuck, he had become his surrogate father through the years and along with that came a strong relationship with Alex and their only daughter Lila-meg

"I just want to know if when he nearly killed my son he was under the influence of alcohol" she said getting angry with every word as she shrugged out of Lucas' grip

"Come on Haley this isn't going to help" she felt her sister Quinn tug at her arm softly, just attempting to pull away, but she wasn't going anywhere Haley stood perfectly and gracefully still.

"I am so sorry Mrs Scott" he pleaded his eyes welling up with tears, Alex doing the same beside him

"He trusted you" she said briefly succumbing to emotion and choking up before bursting into heart breaking sobs

"Come on Haley" Lucas said again taking grip of her arms and she finally fell back into it and let him and her sister drag her away back to the group, her body hunching over as she cried

"I'm so so sorry" he said bursting into tears as Chase grabbed him in an attempt to soothe him, practically bear hugging him as Alex kissed his head and patted her husband's arm before walking and sitting with her upset best friend.

X-x-x-x-x-x

After an incredibly long night of sitting with their little community and trying not to cry, a night filled with holding the people that you loved tightly so that they knew that despite in that very moment when if words were spoken they would seem untrue or turn into a puddle of tears but that grip and that embrace was word enough. It was like a silent vidual in that house and with that Brooke decided that if she was going to watch these kids and try and get them through this horrible time that she needed to get them out of that house and to a spot where sadness was welcomed but often expressed in other art forms, whether it was Peyton writing lyrics or the thumping of a basketball on the court and through the hoop. She sat with Lydia in her arms at the river court on the picnic table, watching as people gathered and participated in both art forms, the smell of spray paint in the air immersed her as she watched people beginning to gather and paint messages of love and support for Jamie Scott and his recovery and then at the other end of the court stood her two sons and the rest of the bigger kids trying to distract the little kids by helping them shoot baskets. All practically walking zombies, her little blonde god daughter a little less bouncy and savvy walked towards them, this frown on her face as she came and sat down with them hugging her best friends legs, it reminded Brooke of her relationship with Peyton when they were their age without the love triangles and slapping, she hoped. Brooke kissed the tops of her nieces heads and then stepped down from her spot on the table, running into and apologising to some random sad kid that walked past her, she stood on the edge of the court with her hands in her back pocket trying hard to not cry but to smile at all that was happening around her but she just couldn't, she looked down at the message at her feet, she remembered when she came back to Tree Hill after college, she had fell in love with the filled with wisdom and kindness boy with the infectious smile, the kid who was willing to take his own stand, listen to her rants and watch soap operas with her. James Lucas Scott would always have the most special spot in her heart, he gave her life clarity when it had little and he gave her love when she felt like she was all alone. Brooke fought back the tears as she looked up and locked eyes with the warm upset eyes of her friend, someone who had been equally touched by little Jamie Lucas, his Uncle Skills was and still was his best friend and Brooke was one of the only people who knew exactly what he was feeling right now and she assumed that Skills knew that as well, she gave him the faintest smile and a wave as he did the same before walking forward, she wrapped him in her arms, he was taller than her when she wasn't wearing heels so she had to stand up on her toes to do so but he accepted it and put his chin down on her shoulder "That kid" he said breaking down into tears as she did the same

"I know" and with that he knew that no more words were needed, that all they had to do was hold each other.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Each person that crowded in the hospital would take turns of pacing up the hallway with Haley, she was a wreck and after the third time she aimlessly wandered without thinking, allowing her memories take over her body and got lost they decided without words that that is what they would do, plus about five minutes into every pace she would burst into tears and need a hug to soothe her, just enough for her to keep going, no hug was going to soothe her, she knew that the only thing that would make all of this any better was if her son woke up. On her tenth lap of the same drab hallways with Peyton at her side Brooke Baker walked towards her with Skills at her side, they had been standing at the river court and decided that the rest of the adults that had flocked and accumulated at the river court were perfectly capable of doing what they were doing for the kids, bare minimum, and that they needed to be at the hospital even if all they could do was sit and wait.

"HALEY" Nathan yelled as he ran up the hallway and she wanted to throw up, Skills was right there behind her and she held onto him for dear life so that she didn't fall over as her husbands concerned face approached her, she couldn't bring herself to form words she just looked to her husband with her teary eyes and waited for him to tell her "Jamie is out of surgery" he said it and she smiled, but when her husband didn't smile she knew something was wrong, that he wasn't telling her something she watched as he gulped, not wanting to tell her "But he is in a coma, they said that it he will probably wake up in time and that we just have to be patient, just wait out the storm" he didn't know why he had said the last part, he supposed it had something to do with him wanting to get that horrible look off his wife's face but he knew he didn't have the power to do that. Through the tears and the people holding her up knowing that she needed the help but just couldn't ask for it, Haley looked up to Nathan full vulnerability in her expression

"Can I see him?" he nodded holding back his own tears as he stepped towards her and grasped her shaking hand.

They walked up the long hallway and it felt as though with every step they were getting further away, it was like they were never going to reach that destination that they would kill to be in, finally they approached room two hundred and eleven and Haley took the deepest breath as her husband lead her in. Jamie's complexion matched the pasty white walls of his hospital room, other than the occasional pink irritation of skin from the minor injuries he had gained from the accident, the green blanket up to the middle of his chest leaving little view of the hospital gown that he had been dressed in. His clothes and wallet had been put on the nightstand, his dark blue jeans cut down each side so that the doctors could get him out of them, from the sight of him she just wanted to collapse, collapse into a puddle, disappear but she knew that she had to be strong, had to be for her whole family, she also knew that Nathan, the most wonderful husband in the world was right behind her and there was no way that he was going to let her fall, he had her back. So instead of collapsing she stood up tall, releasing her husband's hand and walking over to her son's hospital bed, taking his hand and taking a seat, determined that she wouldn't leave that spot until her sons eyes opened and bore into her own. Nathan walked over and kissed his son on the head whispering some words in his ear before excusing himself and heading towards the phone to let not only the waiting room posy but the whole clan in Tree Hill who were anxiously waiting to hear some sort of news about his little boy. Haley nodded and acknowledged him as he kissed her and walked out of the room before leaning forward and grasping Jamie's hand tighter "Hey Jimmy Jam" she said taking a deep breath in, wanting so desperately for her voice or those words to spark some response in her still son. "It's me, mum, but you probably know that, James Lucas Scott wake up, wake up right now or I will ground you so hard that you will think that the summer of 2013 was a breeze" she said before again breaking down into tears, she wondered how she had any more to cry "Jamie the truth is I need you, I have always needed you. You are my little ray of light, you can make me laugh on the worst of days, you help to bring me back to reality when I'm so far off the ground, You have the kindest heart and the most beautiful soul and to be honest any day when you aren't in my world isn't as good as it could be which means that any day without you in this planet would be impossible to live in" she took her other hand and began stroking his forehead watching as his chest heaved upwards and downwards "James Lucas my baby boy you wake up when you are good and ready okay? Just know that we will all be here waiting for you, loving you until and when you do" she said kissing his forehead and sinking back into the chair.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey brother from the same mother" she said as she took up the seat left warm by her mother who had gone to check on the twins who had just arrived at the hospital "Can you remember when mum and dad would take us down the beach in the summer holidays and we used to bury each other in the sand and we would try to make it as compact as we possibly could so that it was harder to get out of and at the end we would pretend that we were turning into the hulk and explode from the sand, but when I was little mum used to tell you off because you would always make it too compact and I could never break out of it, and she used to tell you that if the tide came in all of a sudden and you had to run and get the towels that I wouldn't be able to get out of the sand and I would probably drown, we used to tease her about it" she said with a laugh using her free hand to wipe away a tear that slid down her face "Well right now I feel like I'm little again and that you have buried me in the sand and the tide is coming in fast, your running up the beach to get the towels but I can't get out of the sand, I know I'm going to drown and I know that this is a lot to ask and demand of you in your current state" she laughed "But you do look great, I just want you to come and dig me out of this hole and stop me from drowning"

"Hey girly Scott" he said standing in the doorway, she looked up at him and could tell from the look on his face that he was hurting, she stood up and walked towards him "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to Lydia I promise but if you want to hit me or shoot me or even hit me with another car and if it will make you feel better I'm happy for you to do all of the above" as she got closer she saw how red his eyes were and how tears were welling up in his eyes, Chuck had been her brothers best friend for her whole life, he was like a big brother to her and so as she came face to face with him she got up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. She held on as tight as she could, Lydia went to let go but she felt the hesitation in Chuck's body, he was still holding her tightly around her waist and so she got back up on her toes and hugged him for an extra moment, he did eventually let go and she looked at him "He is going to be okay, He is a Scott and Scott's are strong" she said tapping his shoulder and walking out of the room.

"Hey James L Scotty Scott" he said walking up to the bed and sitting where so many people had been sitting the last two days "I don't know if you can hear me but if you can you need to do me a favour man. You need to wake up, wake up, just wake up" he yelled and pleaded and sobbed over and over again before placing his head on Jamie's stomach and crying. He felt someone move and then he heard a groan which made him sit up as fast as he possibly could, he smiled and laughed passing the guy who had been unconscious for about the best of two days a cup of water

"Your awake, your awake" he said so much excitement in his voice as he took the cup of Jamie and smiled and nervously laughed as Jamie's eyes continued to stay open

"I had to wake up" he said, his throat coarse "I had to write your eulogy for after my mum killed you"

"Your mum" he jumped up from his seat "I have to get your mum"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"And here is another blanket" she said putting about the fifth blanket on Jamie as he lay down on the couch, he had just gotten out of hospital and he was going to stay with his family as he recovered

"Mum no more blankets please" he said with a dry laugh as he held onto his surgical scar under his t-shirt, she smiled and kissed his cheek before going and standing next to the rest of the family who literally had stood and watched him like a hawk the whole time, from when he had gotten into the car at the hospital to well right this very second. "Guys, I'm fine now stop looking at me, now disperse" he said as his family pretended to move around the room but continued to look at him, his mother and father staying a moment extra

"Now what is the promise?" she asked as she smiled at him

"That I won't go anywhere ever that could potentially endanger my life"

"And they said your brain may have been affected" she said with a smile as she kissed her husband's cheek before going over and kissing her son for about the hundredth time today and she knew that it wasn't going to be the last one of the day either by a long shot.

To be continued


	11. Chapter 11

When we were young – chapter eleven 

Lydia yawned as she took the steps one at a time, slowly as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes, she heard her brothers voice down in the kitchen and smiled, while she wasn't thrilled about nearly losing her brother she was ecstatic that James Lucas Scott was living with them as per strong request and force from their mother until he was better which would have to be signed off on by at least twelve doctors. She could hear the whinge in his tone, hear the smile on his mother's face and the loud laugh of her father as her two younger siblings ran in and out of the rooms on the lowest level of the house. Stepping down into open family territory she smiled at what sat before her, Nathan was leaning back in his chair with his arms stretched out behind his head, her brother with an arm in a sling looking down miserably at the bowl on the table in front of him "Please mum!" he begged "I would kill for a pancake, just one, even just a half"

"Good morning Lydia" Haley said as she stood in the kitchen ignoring her eldest sons whinges and pleas "Did you have a good sleep honey?" she asked while she walked to the fridge

"Yeah" she said with a smile as she kissed her dad on the cheek and sat down next to her brother, getting her first glance into her brothers bowl and the cause of his misery, she looked down and laughed at the big pile of steamed vegetables "that is just cruel" Lydia said with a laugh as she leaned across the table and stole a piece of bacon off her father's plate, taunting them both as she took a bite and dangled it from her mouth

"See mum even Lydia thinks it's cruel and she is like the cruelty monster" Jamie was not a fan of vegetables especially ones that were forced upon him and especially when they were steamed

"No fair, I'm not on your side anymore" Lydia said standing up and crossing the table to sit down next to her dad "Mum, Jamie just said that he wanted more vegetables" she said it with a chuckle as her brother gave her the evilest glance he could.

"Mum please" he pleaded once more as he pushed around the pile of green things on his plate

"Jamie if you want pancakes you can make them yourself oh wait…." She said full of sarcasm as she scrambled around the bench packing things up and putting them away

"Wow, did she just say that?" Nathan asked putting his hands down and leaning forward with this concealed smile on his face as the rest of the family leant forward looking at Haley with the same facial expression.

"James Lucas Scott stop your whining, for the last time, the healthier you eat the quicker you get better, so eat your breakfast and stop complaining" Haley said picking up her handbag "I thought we got over this stage when you were six, come on kids" she yelled over to the living room where the twins sat watching television, going through the last stages of the morning of getting them out of the house and to school, leaving Nathan with the job of getting Lydia to school a little later, it was their routine and had been for a very long time and it worked for them. Jamie watched as his mum walked out of the room and then heard as she walked out of house, turning his attention from the breakfast he in no way wanted to eat, to his father, giving him the puppy dog eyes in the mild hope that he would take pity on his ill eldest son and make him a breakfast that in no way resembled a pile of mush. His dad looked up from his breakfast and smiled "No way in hell Jamie Scott, your mum will kill me if she finds out I fed you pancakes"

"She doesn't need to know" he said ignoring his sister laughing so hard she couldn't breath

"Dude, your mum will be able to smell pancakes from a mile away and trace them back to this very house, she is expecting to smell pancakes"

"Then we don't make pancakes, that's what she is expecting, we make a milkshake through her off the scent"

"I told you he shouldn't move in with Chuck, he has turned into a little scoundrel" Lydia said walking past her brother and messing up his hair, knowing that he would be pissed off because he couldn't reach the certain sections of his hair with his arm in the sling, she had learnt that two days after he had come home and now she was having a whole bunch of fun. "But I'm all over that milkshake idea" she said walking over to the kitchen and pulling everything sweet out of the cupboard and down onto the island bench as her father looked on wide eyed, crossing the room and into the kitchen with Jamie at his side.

"What flavour milkshake is that?" he said with a laugh

"It's a concoction that I call the Lydia" she said grabbing the blender and starting to throw things into it and smiling

"And what exactly goes into a 'Lydia'?" Nathan asked looking at his daughter who shrugged her shoulders

"Anything you can find in the cupboard" she said as she finished up and turned the blender on, with this incredibly pleased with herself look on her face, she grabbed three glasses as she watched two of the boys in her life watch as the contents of the blender swirled around and around. They watched intently as she stopped the blender and poured the contents equally into the three cups "Get ready for your taste buds to be rocked" Lydia said passing the cups around to the boys, Nathan looked to Jamie and then back at his cup, giving the silent nod that indicated that he would take the first sip.

"My God that is disgusting" Nathan said putting the cup down and looking to his son who instead of taking his father's response as a sign not to drink his sisters magical milkshake took a sip and practically spat it up and spluttered

"That is gross, pass me mums vegetables" he said with a laugh as they both turned and looked at Lydia who without hesitation took a sip, remaining silent as she swallowed as they both anxiously waited for her response

"Not bad" Lydia said with a nod taking another sip as the boys laughed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

She walked into school with a smile, her backpack over her shoulder and her mind in a completely different zone, only drawn out of the zone by this tugging at her waist that swept her off her feet and brought her off the main path and into the warm embrace of Jude Baker, she giggled as he put her back down onto the ground, putting a hand onto the back of her head and bringing her in so that their lips met, she smiled as he madly, passionately kissed her as though he didn't have a care in the world and then he pulled away, startling her, making her wish that he would just continue to kiss her senseless. But all that was made up for when his soft eyes looked into hers and his lips quirked upwards into a smile. "Good morning" he smiled

"Good morning" she responded looking down to hide the fact that she was clearly blushing, but he put his hand under her chin and brought her up so that he could continue to look into her big beautiful brown eyes, Jude Baker knew Lydia Scott, he knew that when she got embarrassed or scared, even shy she would look down and try and hide the eyes that spoke one million words and dreamed one million dreams, he knew how to decode them, he had been doing it for his whole life, looking beyond those deep brown eyes.

"So Lydi, we've kissed, we've spit pact but we are yet to go on a real date. What's going on with that?" he asked with a smile as her cheeks continued to brighten but she refused to look away

"So you haven't changed your mind yet?" she asked twisting a piece of her brown hair on her index finger, bitting the inside of her cheek

"I take spit pacts very seriously girly" he said as he brought her in closer to his body, wrapping his arm protectively and tightly around her middle as a kid on a skate board zoomed past "Now come on date me" he was pretended to be all cheeky, his usual disposition but there was something Jude hadn't factored in, like he knew Lydia she knew him and she knew that while he was pretending to be cheeky she could tell that he was nervous and even a little bit shy.

"I think I can be persuaded" she smiled as he did the same

"I'll pick you up from your house at like six thirty?" he asked his eyes still pleading

"Sounds perfect" she said taking initiative and leaning in, pressing her lips against his unsuspecting ones "Gives me just enough time to hide Jamie's baseball bat and make myself look pretty" she watched as his laugh lines appeared across his face

"You're already gorgeous but good idea with the baseball bat" he said kissing her one more time before running off towards the gym, leaving her standing alone and smiling in the direction he had headed in. As she went to turn she faced the smirking face of her gorgeous blonde best friend, jumping "My god you scared the crap out of me"

"What was that then?" Sawyer asked chasing after Lydia who took off up the path "Lydia Bob Scott you can't hide from me"

"It was nothing Jude and I are just going on a date tonight" she said feeling embarrassed as her cousin and best friend screamed, drawing the attention from everyone walking into school to them

"That is not nothing Lydia that is so exciting. I've been waiting for this, you've been waiting for this for ages and now it's happening and you're not excited?" Sawyer practically bounced next to her

"Of course I'm excited, well I was excited when he asked me but as time sort of past I got less excited"

"Oh yes in the two minutes that has passed since Jude swept you off the path and into his arms" Lydia stood wondering how long her cousin had been watching them

"Shut up, I mean now I'm just worried about it. Like I know that he can kiss, that he is an excellent kisser, I mean I want to kiss his lips forever. Did I tell you how soft they were?"

"Back to the point Lydia" Sawyer said with a smirk as Lydia blushed

"I don't want to go on a date and wreck our whole dynamic, our whole friendship. I've known him for as long as I can remember, I've known him forever and I love Jude Baker. Not like that Sawyer. I mean I love him as a friend, as the kid that I played with in the sandpit, the kid who gave me chicken pox, the kid who I have spent every summer holiday with and what if I wreck that friendship and taint all those memories?"

"You are such a worrywart" Sawyer said with a laugh as her cousin looked at her, this vulnerability in her eyes and with the look in her eyes Sawyer stepped forwards and threw her arms around her, hugging her tightly in the middle of the pathway "We just have to keep your mind off this date for the rest of the day" over Lydia's shoulder she could see this boy looking at her, this small smile on his face, his blonde hair spiked up, his book bag over his shoulder as he leant against the bike rack, standing next to a friend who he was clearly ignoring and she was fascinated

"Ah Sawyer your squashing me" Lydia said as Sawyer ignored the smouldering boy and released Lydia

"Hey Lydsi, want to come watch a whole bunch of girls gyrate and prance?" she asked thinking that this was the perfect way to keep tonight's date off Lydia's mind

"What are you talking about?" said Lydia thinking of the odd proposition that Sawyer was making

"Cheer tryouts today, we need to fill a spot for the championship" Sawyer said with a smile

"Ugh" Lydia responded, she wasn't a cheering girl, she had helped Sawyer out that one time but she wasn't for the cheerleading at all, definitely not excited about the prospect of watching attempted cheer moves the whole afternoon.

"Come on its usually really funny" Sawyer said with a smile, as Lydia turned to look at her

"I'm sure it's not" she adjusted her backpack straps

"Last time we had one of these tryouts we had to call an ambulance because one of the girls did the splits and she couldn't get up" she said with a laugh as she remembered ever single detail of that afternoon, she looked over to Lydia who was trying to conceal her smile "don't pretend you're not smiling. I know you Lydia Bob"

"Fine" she said as Sawyer did a little excited squeal and threw her arm over her shoulders "Oh crap what's the time?" Lydia asked grabbing Sawyers wrist and looking at the time "crappity crap, I was supposed to meet Davis like five minutes ago" she said hugging Sawyer and running off in front of Sawyer who laughed at her dorky running before beginning to walk away

"HEY" a voice yelled out from behind her and while she didn't know who it was directed towards she found herself spinning around, he was standing there looking at her still with that same smile, Sawyer watched as he paced towards her and she swept her long luscious blonde curls behind her head "Sawyer Scott"

"I'm sorry do I know you" she said with this ever so small smile on her face, her eyes lingered from his smiling lips, up to his symmetrical face up to his quirked eye brow, she couldn't deny that he was pretty but that didn't mean she had any idea how he knew her name

"I've been watching you" he said with a smile

"watching me?" her lips pursed, concealing her smile as she remembered the conversation her father had sat her down for earlier that year, he had told her to blow the emergency whistle if she felt like someone was following her or if someone said 'I've been watching you', she didn't have her emergency whistle on her so she settled for a conversation

"Whoa I just realised how that sounded, I mean I've seen you around, in fact we met at Jonathan's party the other night"

"Truth is I don't remember a single thing from that part….oh no you're the guy who helped me get to my Aunt Brooke's car" she said putting her head in her hands "I'm sorry" she said uncovering one eye

"Don't be sorry, It finally gave me a chance to talk to you, even if you can't remember me" he said with this cheeky smile that made her smile

She went to speak again when out of the corner of her eye she saw her brother running up to her "hey butt monkey" the black haired boy said as he stopped next to her and she pushed him

"What do you want dorkus?" she asked turning into the version of herself that came out when she was around her siblings, especially her brother

"Dad wants to see you in the gym" Leo said as he turned a curious eye to the boy that was watching his big sister with a smile "Is this your boyfriend Sawyer? Wait till I tell dad" Leo said getting all excited and grinning "You do know that she….." he tried to say as Sawyer covered his mouth as he looked up at her annoyed with a hint of a smile

"I have to go, I'll see you around…" she felt instantly bad for not knowing his name

"Marcus" he said with a smile "I'll definitely be seeing you around, I'll make sure of it, in a non-stalker way" he stood watching as Sawyer smiled and forced her brother to turn around and walk forward, she let go of her brothers mouth and Leo Scott turned to talk to her before she shoved him and continued walking.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What is he doing here?" Sawyer asked in a whisper as she leaned forward, taking her attention away from the girl prancing in front of them

"I don't know" Lydia said looking from the boy sitting next to her then back to Sawyer "I told him I was going to cheer tryouts and he insisted on coming with me"

"And he is wearing sunglasses because?" Sawyer asked looking at the Baker boy sitting on the end of their desk "We'll get back to you" she said to the girl as she finished dancing with a smile

"He doesn't want to look shady" Lydia said with a laugh as they both peered over to Davis Baker who looked at them with a smile as Sawyer laughed and shook her head

"Davis you're a dick" she said before leaning back and waving at the next girl that walked into the room and turned her music cue on

"Shh" Davis said putting a finger onto his lip "you're distracting me from her natural talent"

"They are called boobs Davis" Lydia said as Sawyer tried to stifle her laughter

"So are you still nervous about your date?" Sawyer asked not directly looking at Lydia who wasn't directly looking at Sawyer but Davis had sprung forward and was watching Lydia with this shocked look on his face

"Who are you going on a date with?" he asked trying to make his voice sound normal

"You know Jude" Lydia said

"Wait Jude as in Jude Baker, my Jude, twin Jude" Davis asked not understanding how he had missed something like this

"Yes your Jude Baker, get with the program Davis Baker" Sawyer said as she continued to gaze at the girls prancing around

"I've got to go" Jude said standing up and walking away as Lydia turned around to him

"Where are you going? There is a lot more boob jiggling to be seen here Davey" she said with a smile putting her hand onto his arm

"I've got a life Lydia; I can't just follow you around everywhere especially now that you are with Jude. What would he think?"

"Dude" she whispered "He would think that you are my best friend and that we spend a lot of time together"

"Yeah well I just have to go Lydia, maybe best friends isn't enough" he said letting go of her hand and walking out of the room as Lydia watched on shocked and confused

"What the hell was that?" she said almost to herself as she sat forward, knowing that she couldn't follow him, that she needed to let him be.

X-x-x-x-x-x

He stormed out of the cheer tryouts holding back the tears in his eyes, testosterone pumping through his veins; he didn't know what had gotten into him. All he knew was that Lydia was dating Jude and he just had to get the hell out of there, he knew he must look ridiculous because everyone he walked past turned to face him, he saw his Uncle Lucas out of the corner of his eye but continued to walk past, ignoring the fact that he was calling after him. Davis felt so stupid, of course his brother was dating his best friend, and he had noticed the signs but just hadn't put two and two together. And then without a second thought the anger and frustration bubbled up, he just couldn't hold it back anymore so he punched the cement pillar and then swore incredibly loudly.

"DAVIS" his squinty Uncle yelled as he ran up behind him, grabbing onto Davis as he screamed and cried his frustration out "You're okay buddy, it's going to be okay" Lucas soothed

X-x-x-x-x-x

Brooke walked into their two story home with a smile on her face, She was getting home before any of her boys were which meant she got some alone time, the smile quickly faded when she heard the noise of the hairdryer in the bathroom, she walked towards the door knowing full well that she would have noticed if she had have left it on that morning. She swung the door open and let out a massive laugh "What are you doing?" she asked as she looked at her son who was holding his wet shirt in one hand and the hair dryer in the other one

"What does it look like?" Jude asked frustrated as he turned off the dryer and looked at his mum "I've got a date with Lydia tonight and I really want to wear this shirt, but of course I'm cursed and it is wet, so I have to dry it and I don't have the time to wait for the sun to work its magic now do I?"

"Give it to me Jude" she said with a smile as he stepped forwards and passed it to her, she put a hand onto his face "You really like her don't you?" she could see it in his eyes but she was waiting for some form of conformation

"Yeah mum, I do" he said taking a page out of Lydia's book and looking down so that his mother couldn't see the embarrassment or read his eyes any further

"Well then I will do you a favour, I'm going to dry this shirt for you, in the clothes dryer because that works better than a hair dryer but in return you have to promise me something"

"Anything"

"Promise me that you won't break Lydia Scott's heart?" she knew he wouldn't but she knew that she had to put it on the table, she was raising respectable men and that was something she had to teach them

"You think I'm going to hurt her? I'd never hurt her, ever mama! Do you think that this is a bad idea?"

"No, no, no! baby boy I think it is a fantastic idea" she smiled as she walked up the hallway and to the laundry, the phone ringing as she walked out of the room "Can you get that Jude?" she yelled before opening the dryer door and placing the sheet into it

"MUM" Jude yelled up the hallway and she found herself darting out of the laundry to her son who had this look on his face that she just couldn't identify.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"LUKE" she said as she fast paced into the emergency room and got the sight of the blonde man that she knew so well, he brought her in for a hug before releasing her and looking at her concerned face "What happened?"

"He punched a cement pillar at school, broke his hand" he said as Brooke gasped

"Where is he?" Brooke asked so confused by it all

"He is in that room, the doctor just put the cast on" Lucas said as he gulped, listening as Brooke started to walk across the floor

"You coming?" she asked turning around

"I think he needs his mum right now" Lucas said as he picked his bag up off the plastic emergency room chair "I'm going to head home, if you need me I'm a phone call away"

"Thanks Luke" she said for a moment slightly getting rid of her concerned face, turning and walking into the room where her son sat, he turned and looked at her. "So you punched a cement pillar" she said leaning against the wall as he looked away from her completely and totally embarrassed "Now I know that when your brother was five you were jealous of his cast but what did you do that for?" she asked with her sympathetic and caring mother dearest tone, the tone that she always used when she just couldn't be mad at her boys no matter what because she loved them so damn much, she just wanted to take that look out of her boys eye and so she stepped forward just as he broke down into tears and it was like that breakdown forced her feet to move at the speed of lightening and her arms were around her boy "oh my baby boy, it's going to be okay"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"So what happened?" Julian asked as he walked up to where his wife stood outside of the bedroom that their two boys shared, she put her index finger onto her lip in an attempt to make him talk quieter

"He wouldn't tell me" she said feeling defeated and deflated by this whole afternoon, wondering what in the hell could make her cool, calm and collected son snap like that, this wouldn't have surprised her as much if it was Jude, sometimes he could get caught up in the moment and let his anger and testosterone take over but Davis Baker didn't do that sort of thing, he talked his problems out, he talked to her about them but instead of doing that he punched a cement pillar and she just didn't know what was going on, or where to go from here.

"Do you want me to have a talk with him? You know man to man" this statement upset Brooke a little because Davis had always been her mama's boy

"Nah babe, I think we should just leave him to talk it out with Jude this time and if it happens again you can have your man to man talk" she said trying to put on a smile

"Come on Brooke let's go to bed" he said before they walked up the hallway

"I think mum and dad are gone now" Jude said as he looked up at the roof "So are you going to tell your brother why you did it?" he asked, Jude was just as concerned as his parents

"I really don't want to talk about" he said before pretending to change the subject "how was your date with Lydia?"

"It didn't happen; I cancelled at the last minute because my goofy brother punched a cement pillar"

"Wait whoa, did you tell her that?" he asked putting his elbows under himself for support as he sat up

"Well I had to prove that I had a valid reason for cancelling, you can't just cancel on an amazing girl like Lydi with no reason"

"Your right" Davis hoped that Jude would assume that he was agreeing with a different part of his statement and not agreeing that she was an amazing girl "I thought you said that she didn't like you back?" he asked as he looked at the top of the bed

"You know how confusing Lydia can be, truth is she liked me all along" Jude said with a smile

"Why didn't you tell me?" Davis asked, his brother and he confided in each other a lot and it was weird that Jude hadn't told him this but then again Davis had been hiding his own secrets.

"I don't know it kind of happened really fast and really slow at the same time, I mean we kissed at the basketball game and then at Taylor's wedding but then Jamie had his accident so we didn't really talk about it for a while, well other than the spit pact but I didn't think you needed to know about that. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that we're seeing where it goes and right now it hasn't gone anywhere; tonight was going to be our first date"

"I'm sorry for screwing it up for you" he was trying to cover it all up still

"Ah buddy don't even stress about it, Lydia was great about it but she is really worried about you. I'm just going to focus on you for a bit bud. How about we head down to the river court tomorrow morning, could be fun"

"Sounds good" he said trying to hide the fact that a tear was running down his cheek

"Night twin brother" Jude said satisfied with his conversation skills and the talk he had just had with his brother.

"Night brother" Davis said as he turned onto his side bringing the duvet up to his chin

X-x-x-x-x-x

Davis had managed to talk his brother out of making him go for a run to the river court, he had convinced his parents that he was fine and that they could go to the mall for a couple of hours and leave him home alone, so now he sat with the weekend cartoons in his pyjamas, watching in this state of numbness, telling himself how stupid he was acting. The doorbell went off and he knew instantly who it was, there was no need to even look out of the little peephole, he was going to just leave her there, pretend he wasn't home, get down on all fours and crawl out of the room, he could do it and she would never know.

"Davis Baker I know for a fact that you are in there, It's Saturday morning you're watching the cartoons" crap his plan had been foiled, so he stood up and walked to it, opening it up to her gorgeous face that looked on at him smiling. "And you thought you could fool me" Lydia said not taking it to heart that he had purposely ignored her "Can I come in?"

"Sure" he said holding the door open for her and letting her come in, watching as she walked over to the couch and sat down

"I brought muffins and markers so that I can draw on your cast" she said with a smile, she had always wanted to decorate a cast

"I'm sorry Lydia" he went to kick her out, he wasn't ready to be thrust back into the world where he was just the best friend, a world where he felt like his twin brother was still superior to him and somehow she knew that and she was giving him this look, her eyes so vulnerable and so glassy and he just couldn't do it. It wasn't her fault, he had never told her how he had felt and while he sent out the vibes it wasn't her fault that she had found that same feeling in Jude and not him and she couldn't help that Jude reciprocated those feelings and while he could try to hate her and blame her, he couldn't do that to his best friend "But there is no way my cast needs a love heart or a flower on it" he said as she looked startled back at him and laughed

"Excuse me I can draw more than that" she said as he walked over and sat down next to him

"Oh silly me It seems I forgot the rainbow you drew in fourth grade" it was so easy to talk to her, to be with her

"Be careful, I am the ruler of the muffins" she said standing up on the couch with the bag of muffins above her head

"I take it all back" he said with a smile, giving her his un-casted hand to help her sit back down as she handed him a muffin "So what did I miss after I left cheer tryouts? Other than jiggling boobs of course"

"Sawyer decided that everyone was crap, called auditions off and told me that I had to be her cheerleader at championships because she had just enough time to make me half decent and then she would worry about finding someone better after we win the championship"

"Oh great" Davis responded as he took a huge bite out of his muffin

"Oh great?" she responded with a quirked eye brow

"I'm just excited that I get to see you in that skirt again" he said as she slapped him "Barley, barley" he said between hysterical laughs as she attacked him with a pillow "Dude I'm injured"

To be continued


	12. Chapter 12

When we were young – chapter twelve

"Is this the one you are looking for?" said the voice inside of the cupboard as a slim arm held out an item that he turned his head sideways to look at, he inspected it for a while as the arm became agitated "Come on Slow Poke I don't have all day"

"Yeah that is the one" Davis said crossing his legs as he sat on the big double bed, watching as his smiling friend dropped her arm and walked out of her rather large walk in wardrobe, passing him the cd and then grabbing his arm that contained his pretty bare cast

"Thank god Lydia hasn't got to it yet" she said reaching over to the side of her bed where all the art supplies that her mother had brought her recently sat

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure" he said with a smile as he flipped his arm over and bent it on an impossible angle to reveal the smallest love heart in an unseeable zone of the white canvas "Couldn't stop her, she practically made me"

"Oh yeah Lydia and her incredible force" Sawyer said as she rolled her eyes and smiled before beginning her artwork on Davis Bakers arm "So what is the cd for?"

"Well you know since Jude and Lydia are so together and cutesy" he hoped the Sawyer couldn't hear the uneasiness in his tone "He has been listening to all this girly romantic and happy stuff" he did say this with a smile, Davis thought it was incredibly funny noticing that the music he assumed was playing in their parents room by well let's face it either his mother or his father was actually coming from the bedroom he shared with his brother and his brother certainly wasn't being forced to sing along to it.

"You're kidding right" Sawyer said looking up with this cheeky smile that could be so easily recognised in that town as a Peyton Sawyer smile

"I wish I was kidding, Now every time I walk into the bedroom it has this girly feeling about it so now I am on a mission to butch it up" he said looking up from the drawing to the top of Sawyer's head, her curls falling down over her face

"It's kind of sad that you have to come to me, Queen of girly to butch up your bedroom" she said looking up at him, dying to ask him the question but not knowing how to breach the subject, so she just went for it "So I like this guy right, he is really nice, really likes me as well. In fact he approached me and told me that he liked me, I didn't even know who he was…"

"Don't you find that a little creepy?" Davis interrupted as Sawyer gave him a dead pan glare

"So I think I like him right, but I don't know what I want to do about it. Would you recommend punching a cement pillar?" he was sort of taken back by her abrupt straight to the point questioning, while everyone had been avoiding asking him the hard questions about it all she was right there and somehow understanding it better than anyone else. How in the world was he going to get out of answering this one? He thought about it for a moment and she could see that he was festering over it, so he decided to just tell her the truth

"You know don't you?" he asked looking down at his arm, she didn't stop drawing

"That you like Lydia? Yeah I know, I'm like psychic when it comes to who has crushes on who" she said it with a smile in an attempt to make him smile he only briefly smirked but refused to look up and meet her gaze.

"She has a thing for Jude, my fricken brother and has no interest in me what so ever, so I punch cement. I think that makes me pathetic" he said it looking up when Sawyer stopped drawing on her arm

"Davis Baker, You are in no way pathetic. You're fantastic, you're funny, you're kind and a great friend and all that means that one day you are going to make some girl incredibly happy. You know what I'm going to be your wing man, use my telepathic crush sensor for good not evil" she said it with a massive smile and he briefly returned it "But you have to promise me something. Pinkey promise me because it means more" she said holding out her finger and waiting for him to do the same "That when it gets all too much you will come and confide in me, that we will find more constructive ways of dealing with it than punching things like maybe listening to some butch music"

"Promise"

X-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So Lydi-Loo Scott" Sawyer said as she walked into the gym behind her brunette cousin "You look mighty fine" Sawyer said putting her hands on either side of the girl

"I cannot believe you have convinced me to do this" she said her cheeks already stained red and she hadn't even walked into the gym where the whole ravens basketball team was practicing in her short blue skirt and pom-poms in her hands

"You're going to be great Lydi, plus you get to see more of Jude-ey" she over exaggerated his name on purpose making Lydia go an even brighter shade of red. They walked into the room and Sawyer laughed as Lydia tried to hide behind her and he pom-poms. "Okay girls" she said walking up to her squad "We have a month until the sparkle classic, a month to perfect our routines and make sure that we wipe the floors with the other squads. Are we in or are we out?" Sawyer yelled over the top of them as she threw her hand into the middle not noticing the smiling guy behind her, all the girls returned the hand in policy and jumped around. Sawyers curls bouncing around as she tried to get Lydia all excited and into the mix, Sawyer was ecstatic and so excited for the possible upcoming events she smiled broadly and laughed as she turned around, spotting the boy watching her and leaning her head to the side before walking towards him "Are you stalking me?" she asked with a laugh, not too loud because she wasn't exactly sure where her dad was and she knew that if he heard the word stalker he would lock her up and throw away the key.

"I'm a basket baller now" he said with a smile as the girl in front of him quirked her eyebrow "Didn't you hear? I'm pretty amazing, man of many talents" he could see the rest of the team filing over to where he assumed the coaches were standing but he wasn't moving. "So when are you going to go out with me?"

"Excuse me" she said with a smile as her squad giggled behind her

"Well I mean this flirting can't last forever, eventually we have to step it up a notch or at least flirt in a different atmosphere, preferably a less sweaty setting, dressed a bit sexier you know. And by sexy I am referring to me" she tried not to smirk "I get it your treating me mean keeping me keen aren't you"

"Maybe, maybe not" she said with a smile, there was no question that he was working it and she didn't know how much longer she could stay back from it all

"I've poured my soul out to you now and still your gorgeous lips say nothing, how oh how will my heart go on?" he asked over dramatically "I don't even know your full name"

"Sawyer Brooke Scott" she said as she shyly looked down, even though she pretended that she was completely in charge of this situation

"Well what do you say Sawyer Brooke Scott, will you go on a date with me?"

"Hey Sawyer say yes so we can perfect this routine" one of her friends from the squad yelled over to her and she turned around and smiled

"Okay fine, but only so my squad gets some practice in" she said with a smirk

"Whatever you say SBS, I know that it is more about my irresistible charm"

"MARCUS" Lucas yelled beaconing his player over to the formed group, looking impatiently at them both

"Relax coach Scott I'm pouring my heart out here to this pretty girl, would you pass up on this opportunity to play some ball?" he said with a smile before realising and noticing that everyone on the team was wincing and everyone in the cheer squad was looking on in disbelief as Sawyer stood with her head in her hands.

"For every minute that Marcus decides to 'pour his heart out'" he said it in a mocking tone, agitated by everything that came out of the blonde's mouth "To my daughter, there is an extra three suicides to run" the team sighed but the truth was Marcus had tuned out after he had said 'my daughter' he turned hastily towards Sawyer who was trying to hold back her laughter.

"Wait your coach Scott's daughter?" he had this stunned look on his face

"I thought that you would have put two and two together" she was kind of smirking now and seeing the funny side in this situation, and out of the corner she could see her dad and her uncle skills slightly smiling, skills more than her dad though.

"There are a lot of Scott's in this town, I figured maybe an uncle" he was clearly embarrassed this wasn't a good way to kick off his first week in the team

"I don't know how that would have made it any better" she said this in a whisper

"Well I feel less awkward hitting on you in front of your uncle, and now I found out your uncle is actually your dad"

"That has happened a couple of times in that town" Nathan said as he swaggered past "I'm the uncle" and Sawyer's head was back in her hands

"I'm so dead aren't I?" he asked in a shushed tone

"Mhmmmm I'll see you on the other side" Sawyer said stepping forward and placing her lips on his cheeks, she could see her father giving her the look and she pointed at him firmly, telling him to be on his best behaviour before indicating with her hands that she would be watching him. Marcus walked away from her joining his team mates on the court, all sniggering and smirking whilst also feeling incredibly sorry for him this was a horrible situation been in. Jude who felt as though he had insider knowledge stepped forward "Don't take it personally buddy, that's what you get for dating a Scott girl" with that both Scott boys were looking towards Jude angrily and firmly "nothing" Jude said before sinking in next to Marcus trying to invisible.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Okay so pom-poms in the air girls" she said turning around and practicing what she preached, putting her arms in the air as she winked at an exhausted red faced Marcus "Left, Right, Left" she turned around and repeated the actions "No, no, no girls there is no way that we can win this if you put this amount of enthusiasm into it, Let's try it from the top oh and Lydia when I say right honey I mean your other right" Sawyer said as her cousin gave her a shocked look before looking down at her hands and making a 'L'

"Ah" she said as she discovered the truth and looked around embarrassed "Feisty" she added as Sawyer stuck her tongue out and turned around to start again

"She puts the itch in bitch" Jude quoted Bring It On as he ran backwards from her with a smile, mocking her with his look

"We watched that movie together Judas, by the way I have some cd's that I think you might like to borrow" Sawyer stuck her tongue on the inside of her cheek

"What is it?" Jude asked stopping as his team gathered their things to head out of training

"It's really just a mix of things, but I think you'll like it. It's girly and romantic, something you can sing along to" she knew by the look that he was giving her that he knew that Davis had told her his most recent music habits, she let out a massive laugh "You just made my day"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"There is just no way in hell Sawyer" Lucas said as he opened the front door of their house and walked up the hallway with his daughter following behind him "He is such a douche"

"You're the one that scouted him for the team, so obviously he is good" she said as they stepped into the kitchen where he mother sat reading a magazine

"Just because he is a good at basketball doesn't mean he isn't a douche" Lucas said with his squinty eyes as his wife tried to hide her laughter while his daughter went to the fridge and retrieved a bottle of water. "And I personally don't think you should be dating him" he said it and his wife let out the biggest laugh, Sawyer intertwined with her mum, Peyton's arm going around her daughters back as she herself tried to stifle her laughter

"So dad riddle me this" she said straightening up "When you were my age many many moons ago"

"Don't push your luck young lady" he smirked

"When you were my age and you wanted to go out with someone, would you have listened to grandma if she had of told you that you weren't allowed to date him"

"Him?" Lucas asked with his eyebrow quirked

"I mean Her" Sawyer said with a laugh feeling her mother's own laughter through her body, she could see him thinking about it and she noticed him shake his head, Sawyer looked towards her mum who was giving him the look that said one thousand words.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this" Sawyer knew what was going to come next and she felt the smile begin to grow on her face "But Sawyer if you really want to go on a date with the Douche"

"Oh I love you daddy" she said bouncing across to where he stood in the kitchen and wrapping her arms around him

"Not that easy, He has to come around here and meet us before he takes you out and from there I will decide if he is allowed to take you to a non-romantic location, you know a part of a fast food outlet" Peyton was still laughing next to him, she loved that he had become such a protective father "Actually he can take you to Karen's so that someone can keep an eye on you, you will not wear high heels"

"Oh my god" Sawyer said sighing and rolling her eyes in the direction of her mother

"Wait I have a couple more rules, He has to have you home by eleven…."

To be continued 


	13. Chapter 13

When we were young – chapter thirteen 

Sawyer opened the bedroom door without a knock, she wasn't shy when it came to this bedroom, this was a bedroom that felt as familiar to her as her own bedroom, so many night spent lying in the big warm beg, plus the occupant of the room didn't mind her just barging in, well they hadn't said that minded so she was going to take that as a sign that she didn't have to stop. She laughed as she adjusted her eyes to the darkness allowing herself to see Lydia's leg sticking out of the duvet covers, a pillow practically sitting over her head, if it wasn't for the occasional grunts Sawyer would have assumed that she was dead. Now it was decision time, how exactly did she want to wake her up? Cause let's face it she was going to wake her up she was needing some girl time and this was where she had to turn to get it, instead of picking the nice option of whispering in her ear to wake her up she put her hand to the light switch and swiftly pushed it up and down several times, watching as Lydia squirmed, kicked her legs and then threw her pillow further over her head "five more minutes mum" came a muffled voice from under the pillow

"This is just sad" Sawyer said with a laugh watching as Lydia threw the pillow off her head briefly lifting her head and giving a squinty look that proved the Scott genes were strong before Lydia threw her head back down, put her hand up and motioned her cousin forward and onto the bed. Sawyer threw her bag onto Lydia's desk and then walked over to the comfort of Lydia Scott's bed, not bothering to walk around to the other side but instead just climbing over Lydia, briefly stopping with one leg on either side of her to kiss her on the forehead and then plonking down next to her and pulling the blankets in a hogging style.

"What's the time?" Lydia said with a yawn as Sawyer closed her eyes as tightly as she could

"Like ten thirty" she said recalling from memory the last time she looked at her phone

"Crap, I've got to get up" Lydia said throwing the pillow off her face and onto Sawyer who moaned on impact

"No, no, no" Sawyer said grabbing Lydia's moving wrist and pulling her back down onto the bed "I need girl talk"

"Okay" said Lydia not really complaining that she got to lie in bed for just a little bit longer "What do you want to talk about?"

"Tell me about Jude" she said with a smile looking up at her friend as they linked arms and sat back on the pile of pillows, staring at the roof

"There is nothing really to tell, we haven't even gone on our first date yet"

"Speaking of dates when do you think that's going to happen?" Sawyer asked

"I don't know hopefully soon, I'm less anxious about it happening now and more anxious that it never will. I mean he has been really distracted by Davis at the moment and I am too but he has promised me that he really can't wait to go on a date with me" she tried to conceal the goofy smile that poked out on her face every time she started talking about Jude, it had become awkward the night before when her dad had been telling Jamie about the form of the team and brought up Jude, she had gone bright red and her brother had teased her for the rest of the night. "I think he really likes me, he said I'm the only girl that he would ever wear a tutu for" she said with this cheesy smile as Sawyer looked at like she was possessed not knowing what the reference meant.

"I don't know what you meant by the last part but I know that he really likes you" and just those words even if they weren't actually from his lips were enough to make her swoon like crazy.

"So what's going on with you and tall blonde and gorgeous?" Lydia asked with a giggle

"Nothing yet, he has kind of been a bit let's just say scared since the whole finding out 'Coach Scott' is my dad" Lydia started laughing and Sawyer slapped her jokingly on the arm "Shut up. The thing is I don't know him"

"That's what a first date is for isn't it?"  
>"Well yeah but I didn't even know he existed till like a week ago and he just walks up to me and is all like 'oh I know who you are'" she said putting on a mock male deep voice despite her cousins laughing "and I'm just like oh yeah date me pretty blonde boy. I mean I don't even know what he is like, what if he is a massive jerk, or he spits when he talks or worse what if he is a stalker and you know that that is a possibility in this dramatic town, my dad would kill me. Well that's if my stalker Marcus doesn't get to me first"<p>

"Calm it down Sawyer he isn't a stalker and the reason that you haven't met him is because he is relatively new to the Hill and you guys don't run in the same circles, I've seen him around, he's been in my classes and I've asked around about him and so far there have been no reports of stalker-like behaviour"

"You've been asking around about him?" Sawyer said sitting up and smiling widely at the girl in front of her

"I had to make sure that my best friend wasn't going out with a spit talker or a psychopath, it was my duty and I can't live without you" Lydia said dramatically putting a hand on each arm and shaking her before pushing her back onto the bed and leaning over her while they both laughed.

"Can you do me a favour?" Sawyer asked in all seriousness as they both calmed down and Lydia thumped down on her back next to her

"You name it sister sledge" Lydia said turning her head to face Sawyer as she did the same

"The boys are all going out before game night right?" Sawyer asked as she watched Lydia making sure that no one was listening and then nodding "Could you ask Jude to take Marcus and suss him out for me?"

"I don't know if I'm okay with setting Marcus up on his first date with Jude before my first date with Jude"

"Lydia" she whinged, extending the last letter of her name to add emphasis

"Of course I will" she said with a smile as Sawyer leaped and hugged her "But he better not get to second base before I get to second base"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Mum listen to me" Jamie said chasing his mum around the kitchen as she frantically threw things into a bowl "MUM"

"Jamie I am listening but I have to get this cake in the oven" his mum was clearly dodging him as she frantically stirred the mixture in front of her, Nathan walking in from the front of the house with Peyton and Lydia walking from the stairs with Sawyer

"What's going on?" Nathan asked as he stepped into the kitchen between his son and his wife, when Haley didn't respond Nathan turned to a frustrated Jamie

"I went to the doctor this morning and he's said that I am as good as new, same old Jamie Scott so I am going to head back to Charleston in a couple of days" they all turned as Haley slammed the cake tin down on the bench "I've been trying to tell mum here but she isn't listening to me"

"I am listening to you, and I appreciate that you want to head back to Charleston to be with Lily and Chuck but I'm sorry I want you checked out by someone that is more competent, I want a second opinion. NUTMEG" she said walking to the cupboard and pulling out the jar

"And I've been trying to tell you that I knew that you would need more than my very competent doctors opinion so I asked every single one of his colleagues, I've had a second, a third, a fourth, a twenty ninth opinion in fact a really nice paediatric specialist said that while I probably wouldn't be able to get pregnant anytime soon that I should tell my incredibly protective mother that I am perfect" he said it with his James Scott grin to try and charm his strong willed mum into submission. Everyone in the room remained silent, not wanting to make a move, not wanting to make a noise just carefully watching Haley to hear and see the next move, they watched as Haley looked intently down at the bowl of mixture, she dropped the wooden spoon and turned to him, her eyes focusing in on his as Nathan moved backwards

"I don't want you to go" she said with a tear rolling down her face as Jamie stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his mum, his big broad shoulders swallowed his mum as his height towered over her.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"So what are you doing right now?" she asked with a smile as she swept her hair back behind her and lay down on her bed, the receiver firmly placed against her ear

"_Nothing really Davis and I just went for a run" _she loved the tone of his voice how it was so relaxed and so sexy yet so caring all at the same time _"About to have a shower so that I can go out with the guys tonight" _

"About that" Lydia said putting on a smile even though he couldn't see it

"_Tell me why you're smiling at me" _he said as she put her hands to her lips and then smiling even bigger

"You know that new Marcus guy, the one who just joined the team" she heard him mumble "Well you probably know that he is pursuing Sawyer, rather loudly in the gym"

"_I already know that this is going to make me really uncomfortable" _Jude sighed

"Sawyer doesn't feel as though she knows him enough to go on a first date with him"

"_Isn't that the main point of a first date not that we would know" _she smiled but ignored him

"We need to know if he has stalker like qualities or spits when he talks, so Sawyer was wondering, I was wondering if you could invite Marcus to that thing tonight and try to get to know him."

"_Wait your sticking the stalker on me?" _Jude asked with this mocked outrage on his end of the phone as she laughed

"LYDIA" a woman's voice that she could clearly identify as her mother's yelled up the hallway

"_What was that about?"_ Jude asked with a smile as he put an arm behind his head

"Jamie is leaving for Charleston in a couple of days so Uncle Luke and dad took him out for drinks tonight, so the girls and Skills are having a night in with the sexiest man alive"

"_Well that isn't possible because I wasn't invited, Why is Skills at girls night?" _

"I was talking about Ryan Gosling and haven't you heard Skills loves the Notebook"

"LYDI LOOOOOOOOOOOOO" another voice came up the hallway this time over the phone he recognised it as his own mothers voice, Lydia got to her feet and began walking towards her bedroom door

"_Ah so that is where my mum went" _Jude said as though it had hit him in a light bulb moment

"So will you do it Jude?" Lydia said as she opened the big white door walking up the hallway and dodging her little sister who ran past her in a whirlwind towards the bathroom door

"_Do what?"_

"Jude" she whinged with a smile on her face

"_If I go on a date with him you have to promise me that the next date I go on will be with you"_

"I promise" she was all weak at the knees making sure that if she did wobble she would have something to grasp onto

"_I'm not going further than second base with him, he isn't getting lucky tonight"_

"Thank you Jude" she said with a smile, slowing her paces so that she didn't have to face the eyes of her family as she ended this conversation "I promise to make it up to you"

"_I'm taking you up on that"_

"But"

"_Don't say But" _he said with this sort of plea in his tone

"But" she said with a smile "I have to go and cry my eyes out whilst asking why I can't have a romance like Allie and Noah's" she said with a laugh as Skills walked past the stairway and waved, this cheeky look on his face

"_You never know what will happen after a first date" _he quipped wondering why Lydia was stifling laughter

"What are you wearing?" Skills said at the bottom of the stairs in a girly voice as Lydia laughed and put her hand over the receiver, ushering her uncle to go away and join the rest of the group

"I'm sorry what did you say?" Lydia asked with a laugh and he couldn't help but smile widely

"_Just that I hope you enjoy that movie, now I've got a date to go on." _ His voice was all goofy but then got incredibly serious _"Goodnight Lydia Bob Scott"_

"Goodnight Jude Baker" she said with this massive smile before hanging up the phone and walking down the stairs, all the women and Skills compiled in their living room looked at her with these Goofy smiles as her Aunt Peyton and Aunt Millie walked behind her

"No you hang up first" Peyton started smiling at Lydia as she walked past with the popcorn bowl

"No you" Millie added with a laugh as she put her arm around Lydia's middle.

"Now I hope that you are all in the right frame of mind for this emotional roller coaster" Skills said standing up with the D.V.D cover in hand

"Just put the movie in Skills" Millie said as she sat down on the couch "We're ready"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"This just feels wrong" Lucas said walking over to the table and passing Jamie a beer, looking at him he shook his head "I changed this kids nappies, there is no way I should be providing him with alcohol"

"Thanks Uncle Luke" he said taking a sip "Now I've got to go and shake my groove thing over there near that group of girls" he said standing up and walking away from the table with a wink, dancing over to a loud group of girls

"He's been…."

"Spending way too much time with Chuck" Nathan said finishing his brother's sentence

"I feel so sorry for my sister right now" Lucas said with a laugh before clinking his glass with Nathan's "So how did Haley take the news of Jamie leaving again?"

"She denied, then cried and then they hugged it out"

"She'll be okay" Lucas said lifting the glass up to his lips

"It's happened hasn't it?" Nathan asked looking at his brother as he put his glass down onto the table "We've turned into the guys who are out of the house drinking yet all we can talk about is our wives and children"

"We are completely and totally whipped" Lucas said combined with his own whipping noise, Nathan downed the rest of his beer, placing the empty glass on the table

"Basketball?" he said tilting his head in the direction of the hoop shooting game

"Basketball" Lucas said doing the same thing as his brother before they both walked past a grooving Jamie to the game machine.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Can I please just go home?" Davis whinged as he trailed behind his brother "This is more of a team thing"

"You are my team baby boy" Jude said not even turning around at the end of the day he knew that his brother was going to stick it out and end up following him in "Plus you and casty really have to get out the house, oh and if Lydia has stuck me with Stalker boy you are joining me, helping me keep the sanity" he said as they walked into the bar, Jude waved as he spotted his team towards the back.

"How many Scott's are in this town anyhow?" the blonde boy quirked to some of the guys from the team "I mean it's like incestuous, you turn every corner and there it is another Scott"

"I'd be careful buddy, you want to date one" Jude said with his serious face as he passed him, a not pleasant look on his face as he grabbed two bottles of water and threw one at his brother

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia walked towards the kitchen with the dirty plates in her hand with Sawyer following behind, the movie had just ended, Skills was still bawling his eyes on the couch whilst Brooke and Millie hugged him all misty eyed.

"So did Jude say he would do it?" Sawyer asked grabbing the last piece of popcorn from the bowl and throwing it into her mouth

"He said he would do it but that Marcus wasn't going to get past second base on the first night"

"God you two were made for each other, Jude hides it pretty well behind his macho act and his athletic skills but you are both the biggest dorks in the world"

"Are you serious about this Marcus guy?" Lydia asked as she walked to the fridge and pulled out a piece of the chocolate cake her mother had made while stressing out about Jamie going back to Charleston, she put it on the bench as she got two forks, she got into a listening frame of mind as she passed the fork to Sawyer

"I don't know yet, I could be I think" Sawyer said taking a big bite of the cake from her fork "Why?"

"Mitch was asking about you" Lydia said as she used her fork to play with end of the cake

"You talk to Mitch" Sawyer asked kind of taken back by it, Mitchell Henry was Lydia's hot cousin in-law that she had met when his father had married Taylor James, she had kind of felt this chemistry when she looked at him but he had flown off to France with his mother the weekend after the wedding. It wasn't that surprising that Lydia talked to Mitch they had really gotten along from the very start but it was weird that Lydia hadn't mentioned that she had been talking to him

"Yeah we have been Skype-ing and emailing, I'm keeping him updated on all things America while he is eating baguettes at some French restaurant"

"What did he say about me?" Sawyer asked trying not to sound desperate

"He was asking casually about how everyone in Tree Hill was and then he was like 'and Sawyer' even though I'd already told him all about you and then he was all about how nice you were at the wedding and how lovely you seemed"  
>"Why didn't you tell me that you were talking to him?" Sawyer said trying to hide the fact that she was a little upset by the fact that it had been kept from her<p>

"This conversation happened right after Marcus showed up on the scene and I figured that you wouldn't want to hear from Mitchell because you were all wrapped up in Marcus, I'm sorry"

"I get it, its fine" Sawyer said taking another big bite of cake and looking up at Lydia with a smirk.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"That guy is such a dick, what could Sawyer possibly see in him?" Jude asked as he sat down next to his bored out of his brains brother

"Girls always go for the douche" Davis asked with a smile "That's why Lydia picked you"

"I take it back you're the dick" Jude said punching his brothers arm "Come on Davey lets kick it" he said standing up and grabbing his jacket before walking over to the boys, fist pumping and hugging his team mates making his rounds until he reached Marcus. The awkwardness kicked in and with distain Jude fist pumped Marcus and turned to walk away.

"What's his problem?" Jude heard as they walked away from the group, Davis turned in time to see most of the guys ignore him and a couple shrug their shoulders at him "He's probably pissed that I got the hotter Scott"

"Is he serious?" Davis asked his brother as Jude continued to ignore and walk forwards "Sawyer's like a sister"

"It's fine Davis" Jude said as he kept walking

"Plus his brothers retarded enough to punch a cement pillar" Marcus quipped and whilst Davis smirked it off trying to hide the fact that the comment had gotten to him but before he could even properly react Jude had turned around and was taking large strides back towards the group

"Jude" Davis said trying to catch up to him, something was going to go down

"Hey Jude I thought you were leaving?" Marcus said with a laugh

"Smug ass-wipe" Jude said with this disgusted look on his face before punching him hard in the nose.

To be continued 


	14. Chapter 14

When we were young – chapter fourteen 

Jude walked through the bright glass doors of his family home, his earphones pumping music straight to his brain, his face hosting the biggest possible smile; nothing made Jude Baker happier than a run in the morning. As he walked into the house he looked down at his watch and just from the time he knew exactly what was happening at his home: His mum would have just gotten in the shower in the bathroom that connected to their bedroom, their father would be shaving and taking up the occupancy of the main bathroom, his twin brother Davis would have just gotten out of the shower and gotten changed soon heading to the kitchen to make himself breakfast. It was like an itinerary, always on time, like a sundial, the great thing about it was that if he ever forgot his watch he would still know the exact time by determining what part of the daily schedule was being hashed out.

"Earth to Jude" Davis yelled over to his brother who looked at him with this confused stare as he pulled his earphones out "I asked if it was a good run" he said as he looked down at the table to make sure that he was pouring his orange juice into his cup and not onto his toast

"Yeah it was pretty good. Hey about last night" Jude said crossing the bench and sitting up on it, looking at the time again because if his mum could see him he would have received a massive lecture about how you shouldn't park your ass where food is prepared

"You didn't have to do that Jude" Davis said looking to his brother taking a sip of his juice "I can fight my own battles and personally I really don't care what that stupid Marcus guy thinks about me"

"Hey I came out like a minute before you and because of that it's my job to protect wimpy boy's ass" he said with a laugh

"Wimpy boy? I'm tough as nails "Davis returned as Jude winked at him and jumped off the bench, heading towards the living room

"You can keep telling yourself that baby brother" he exaggerated the word baby as a way of mockery, it was always the thing between them, mentioning age as though it was seniority as though you reaped more benefits if you took your breath first. It wasn't usually taken so seriously, usually just a tool used to make a joke on the others behalf and while Davis assumed that being the minute younger would sound a lot better when they were older and he wanted to tease his big brother for being just that his old big brother at the moment it sucked because well he was the youngest. Jude went to lean down and pick up the remote, turning his back to his brother instantly regretting the decision when he felt a thwack to the back of his head. He turned around abruptly and looked to his brother in shock "Did you just throw an orange at me?" instead of responding to his brother's question he pelted another orange towards him, Jude made a break for the kitchen to tackle his brother or give him a wedgie he would decide that on impact but as his brother picked up another orange he realised that he wasn't going to make it so he did all that he could to stop it, picking up something that made his brother take in a very large breath that sounded startled

"That's right" Jude said with a laugh as he held in his right hand his mums favourite vase, the one she had bragged and bragged about every time it came up in conversation, hammering into the boys at a very young age that they were not to touch it because it was irreplaceable and had great meaning for her

"Put it down Jude" Davis looked on wide eyed slowly losing the colour in his cheeks

"Relax I'm not going to break it, I'll put it down when you put the orange down" he said with a sly smile as he watched his brother put the orange down slowly as though it was a real life hostage situation "See now I can put it down" he said moving to put it down but he hadn't realised that his hands were shaking, it must have been like an automatic response and as he went to put it back down upon the table, slightly misjudging the edge of the table the vase began to stumble as he stepped away from it and the rest turned into a slow motion pace. Davis was standing on looking shocked and absolutely horrified as Jude jumped towards it trying his best to catch it. And catch it he did, he thought he had hit the jackpot that his luck had just turned when his fingers fumbled leaving them watching as the vase hit the floor and smashed.

"OH MY GOD" Davis yelled running over from the kitchen and standing on the opposite side of Jude as they both looked down not so secretly crapping their pants "Look what you have done now Jude" Davis said as he looked down at the broken shards that lay on the floor

"ME?" he asked turning to his brother in shock "This isn't my fault, it's yours"

"How is this my fault? You are the one who DROPPED the Vase" he retaliated

"You knew that I went for a run and that my hands would be all sweaty and yet you threw oranges at me"

"Did an orange hit the vase?" Davis said looking to his brother "Ah no-no" he quipped in full seriousness

"What are you boys doing?" a voice said from behind him that caused both of the boys to jump around in a circle and scream like little girls "Why are there oranges on the floor?" their mother asked as they both tried their best to cover the crime scene that they had created

"Sorry ma, that was Davis" Jude said as Davis turned to him and slapped him

"Ah yeah sorry" Davis responded gulping, knowing full well that he had a horrible poker face, he just hoped that she misinterpreted it as in response to the astray oranges

"You boys are just as boisterous as you were when you were five" she laughed "Okay I've got to head into work now, just pick up the oranges before you leave" she let out another laugh as she watched her boys "Aren't you going to give me a hug?"

"Ah yeah, right" Jude said with a nervous laugh as he looked to his brother indicating that he was going to go and hug his mum meaning that he was in charge of covering the remains. He walked over to his mum who smiled in confusion as she looked at the pose that Davis was pulling as he stood near the dining room table, not leaving it until his brother Jude made it the whole way back to where he stood.

"Ah okay, Love you boys" she said as she blew a kiss and turned to head out the door mumbling _"Even if you are psychotic" _They waited until their mum was well and truly out of the house before turning to each other

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Jude practically screamed at his brother who in a different set of circumstances might have used a 'well you're the oldest' line, instead he put both of his hands on his brother and shook him

"PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER MAN" Jude looked at his brother absolutely stupefied as he paced a few steps for added dramatics, there was no denying that his mother was Brooke Davis "I have a plan"

"And what would that be dorkus?" Jude was growing more and more anxious as minutes ticked by, it would only be moments before his father bounded up the hallway for his usual morning powwow with the boys

"Okay so we hide all the evidence of this happening in our room, under the bed in the darkest corner while we are at school. We know that mum and dad are too scared to look down there, you"

"Me?" Jude asked pointing to himself

"Yes you my friend will rush home from school this afternoon, you will not pass go, you will not collect two hundred dollars and you will start attempting to put the pieces back together again somehow" Jude was pretty impressed with his brothers monopoly reference before noticing his brothers lack of activity within the plan

"And while I'm working in the sweat shop you will be doing what?"

"I will be at the store buying super glue" he said in a matter of fact tone

"Wait, wait, wait. Why do I have to be the one that sticks it all back together again?"

"In case you have forgotten" he said before lifting his arm and indicating to the cast that still sat on his arm only now it was significantly vandalised

"You could still do it while I went to pick up superglue, dude let's not forget who failed art in elementary school."

"When did I say it was okay for you to question the plan? Huh? I suppose we can just forget the plan, I can stop trying to help you and you can tell mum why her VERY expensive vase is in a hundred little pieces" he joked seriousness as he turned away as though he was a gang leader asking for one of his men to perform a hit

"Davis wait!" he said it louder than expected, questioning inside how it had all gotten so serious in the last well five minutes "It is a great plan, I'll stick to the plan"

"Good then" he said smiling over his shoulder "You clean that up and we will reconvene after school"

"One problem" his brother added "How are we going to get dad out of the house without him noticing?"

"I can deal with that" Davis responded as he continued to walk up the hall, Jude gulped as he heard the bathroom door open and his father's voice "PAPA" Davis greeted

"God he is good" Jude mumbled as he sprung into action and began to frantically find every single piece of broken vase.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jude walked through the school on the path filled with at least one hundred of his peers yet he managed to tune them all out, in his mind he sat wondering and stressing about the vase that he had broken that very morning. This voice boomed from behind him and he was instantly drawn out of his little haze, the voice held so much franticness and worry that Jude felt instantly as though he needed to turn around. He turned to face the blonde idiot with a black eye known as Marcus, for a moment he had managed to forget about him and now another thing was added to his pile of worries: should he tell Sawyer? And if so what should he tell her?  
>By the look on Marcus' face Jude assumed that he had been calling out to him for a while, it wouldn't have surprised Jude if Marcus thought that he was purposely trying to avoid him not that Jude really cared.<p>

"You walk really fast" he laughed as he looked at Jude soon realising that it wasn't a laughing matter and his face turned all serious

"What do you want Marcus?" Jude said as he rolled his eyes but it was a credit to him, Jude never left Marcus' gaze, he never backed off or focused elsewhere, if he was talking to someone, if he liked them or not, he would hold their eye contact until that conversation was over.

"I think I need to talk to you about last night" he nervously smiled

"What are you looking for another black eye?" Jude asked in a serious tone, anyone that knew Jude knew that it was his bluffing voice, that if he could produce that tone he was nowhere near angry enough to actually follow through

"I think I just need to clear something up, I didn't mean anything of my comments last night. You know what it's like, trying to impress the guys. I would have said anything"

"Funny how you were the one talking out of your ass" Jude said with this dead pan look, no one could tease his baby brother other than him, that was his job. You could gain the right by either being in their very small family or if you felt like family because you had been around for so long but even then there were limits and if anyone breached those limits they would have to face him and he took it all very seriously

"I guess that I'm not going to be able to change your mind about me, I swear I'm a nice guy once you get to know me"

"And your point is?"

"I know that you think I'm a complete and total jerk but please don't tell Sawyer. I really like her and I know that she takes your opinion very seriously, that you only invited me last night because she wanted you to give her your opinion on me. Just please don't tell her"

"Look buddy, I don't care if you are the biggest jerk in the world, that's your business, but you stay away from my brother" he started to turn but then turned back to face him "Oh and by the way. She is special, she deserves to be treated like a goddess and if you hurt Sawyer Scott I swear to god that I won't be the only guy in town who will be beating on you but I will be the guy serving the first punch. Got that?"

Marcus gulped "aha" he nodded

"Good" he said with a sigh "You stay out of my way and I stay out of yours" he walked off and found himself going from an aggravated look to a smiling happy face "Hey good looking what's cooking?"

"That is so clichéd" she said wrapping her arms around him as he pressed his lips onto hers, it was getting more and more passionate when she finally decided to push him off at an arm's length he was giving her this look that she was finding so hard to deny, he had this loving smirk on his face, his eye brow was perched, his cheeks had reddish tinges on them and his lips looked almost glossy like from her light pink lip gloss that must have rubbed off with all that kissing "I'm sorry but your good looks aren't going to do it this time" she said with a laugh "Eventually a girl has to ask what gives?"

"My god you sound like my brother" he laughed, he was smiling now, she had been doing this his whole life, making him smile like crazy but now it all felt so different to him and he couldn't say that he minded

"Do you kiss your brother?" she asked with a quirked eye brow

"Eww that's gross. Come on out with it girly" he said trying to get the thought of him kissing Davis out of his mind

"We need to go on a first date, soon, really soon. Jude Baker I just can't take this anymore, If I don't date you then I think I'll just die, I'll just die" she added dramatics as he laughed at her

"See that's the thing Lydi, I don't think we can date now that you have likened yourself to my brother" she sighed a breath of relief when the dialog got a little less serious

"How about tonight? Does that work for you?" she asked very eagerly

"Definitely" he said smiling and then pulling her close to him again "only if I'm not dead by then"

"What?" she asked looking up at him curiously

"Don't you worry your pretty little head" he said kissing the top of her head as he threw a hand over her shoulder as they started walking.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Super grip, super sticky, extreme stick. Where the hell is the just plain old simple super glue?" he mumbled to himself beginning to stress out and get frustrated, deciding that he didn't have the right expertise for this very delicate decision, he searched high and low for any employee of any kind to help him with this important decision when someone came up behind him and poked him on either side of his stomach and for the second time that day he screamed like a little girl

"Wow, you know how to make a girl feel special" she said with a laugh as her blonde curls bounced with every Sawyer laugh

"You scared the crap out of me" he said putting a hand up to his heart

"Well I guess that we are lucky that we are in a store that also sells pants" she said reaching behind him and pulling a pair of tan pants with a smile

"Ha-ha Sawyer you are soooo funny" he said with the sort of mockery you played with your siblings

"I know I am, but that's not why I'm here. There is something that I need to run by you" she said with a smile and a bounce as she put her hands together behind her back

"I have a feeling that this isn't going to be good" Davis said trying to hide the start of a smile

"Well you know how you came to butch up your bedroom with my cool as rocking tunes and I informed you that I was officially your wing man?"

"I'm definitely not going to like this" he said with a smirk he could tell that she was tuning him out, not bothering to take in his comments, one thing that you needed to know about Sawyer Scott, the one thing that he definitely would write in her handbook, once she started telling a story, no matter what the distraction she would be finishing that story and that was her prerogative

"Well as your Wing man I have performed my magic and applied my wing manial duties and you my friend have a girl who now in her pretty little hand has your digits, aha I know I'm great"

"Please tell me that you are kidding?" he asked putting his head in his hands

"Don't question it my love just go with it" she said with a smile "Now do you have anything else that you need to ask me?" she asked looking around

"Yeah I actually do. Do you happen to know anything about superglue?"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What the hell took you so long?" Jude asked as he stood at their bedroom door, Davis had to try and conceal the laugh that had bubbled up in his throat because of the similarities he saw between his brother and his mum

"I've been buying superglue" he said answering him matter of factly

"We don't have all week Davis, mum will be home in a couple of hours and it is very important that we have this vase fixed and on the table by the time that she gets home, got that?"

"You say 'got that' too much" he stated as he looked at his brother

"Either hand me the superglue or get a very hard kick to the family jewels my friend" he said as his brother quickly passed him the bag from the store, Davis knowing full well that Jude Baker was not bluffing. "Keep an eye on the door"

Davis sat on the floor outside of their bedroom creating what could be likened to a human shield with his own body, he assumed that he had been sitting there for about an hour and while his stomach rumbled he knew that the second he went to go and get food his father would pop out from god knows where and catch Jude in the act. From where Davis sat in the hallway he would frequently hear his brother curse, swear and all around build up his frustration levels, in any other situation Davis would have laughed and teased him but he knew that if he did this at that moment he knew that Jude wouldn't hesitate to take him down with him. After at least another half an hour and a significant decrease in the amount of yelling coming from their bedroom Davis decided that it was time to check in on his brother, he stood up and opened the door, revealing his brother sitting on the bedroom floor, looking down at the almost fully completed vase with a massive smile on his face

"HAHA" he was way too joyful "Look at this baby boy, look at what I have done. I'm like a regular Dicaprio"

"I think you mean Da Vinci" Davis corrected with a smug smile as he walked over and sat on the bottom bunk bed admiring his brother's work

"Both" he had to hand it to Jude, he was fast paced "I've got Dicaprio looks and Da Vinci's artistic abilities." Jude watched him and his facial expression "You know what, just shut up tool bag"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Okay it was officially go time, the vase was fixed, it wasn't perfect in fact it was far from perfect but after hours and hours of attempting they decided that they really only were going to be living in the house for like three years if they played their cards right and they figured that for the next three years they could run interference that would result in their mother never getting close enough to the vase to see the cracks and the dry bumps of superglue. By the time they finished up their mother and father were both home and laughing in the kitchen

"Okay you keep the vase behind his back, I'm going to run some interference" Jude said watching as his brother very carefully picked up the Vase, somehow he had managed to also get ready for his date "Let's do this" Jude said giving his brother a nod before they both stepped into the hallway

"Deep breaths"

"Let's just get on with it" Jude said walking ahead of Davis up the hallway and to where his parents sat "MUM, DAD when did you get home?" the over exaggeration sparked curiosity in his parents, it was working Davis had managed to sneak past

"So what have you done?" his dad asked sitting next to his laughing mother

"What?" Jude did his best fake laugh "Can't a boy be happy to see his parents after a hard day at the office?"

"Oh I'm glad you feel that way" Brooke said with a smirk "But my love" she said standing up from the couch "I wasn't born yesterday, Davis stop where you are" she said standing up with her husband following behind and walking up to the table, Davis and Jude hitting a whole new level of panic

"This is so silly mum, let's just all go and sit on the couch, put our feet up"

"That sounds great Jude but only after Davis tells me why he is acting so strange"

"God mum don't you know your kids at all, Davis always acts like this it is part of his charm and quite frankly you questioning his behaviour is making him very self-conscious, is that what you want?" his mum tried to hide her laughter, unsuccessfully. Jude Baker had inherited the gene of talking ones way out of an undesirable situation; unfortunately his powers had nothing on hers.

"Jude let's just tell her" Davis said watching the stand-off between his mum and brother

"Fine" Jude said stepping back and leaning against the table "But if you get me grounded I swear to go I will kill you" Davis ignored his threat and pulled the vase out from behind his back, his mother and father just looking at it

"What happened?" Brooke asked looking confused down at the vase in her sons hand

"It was Jude" Davis answered really quickly making his father laugh hysterically

"I see how it is, how quickly you threw me under the bus. He isn't innocent you know he was throwing oranges"

"What actually happened?" Julian asked stepping forwards

"I was throwing oranges, he picked the vase up as a protective shield so I surrendered and good old butter fingers dropped the vase, we are so sorry mum we know how much it means to you" he said passing the vase to his mum

"Notice the excellent super gluing" Jude added before Davis punched him in the arm

"Thankyou boys for telling me what happened and thank you for your excellent super gluing" she put her hand on Jude's face "But it doesn't matter, in fact I was going to give this vase to goodwill"

"WHAT?" Davis practically jumped at her "You always told us that you loved that vase that it was your favourite one"

"Really? I can't remember that" she said in full seriousness getting a closer look

"When we were five you said that if we broke that vase you would send us to the orphanage" Jude added as Julian continued to stand and laugh

"Oh that" Brooke said with a smile "I hated this vase it's from my mother, I just told you that because when you were five you broke everything and I just wanted a break from cleaning up the carnage"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia sat on the dining room table with her sister sitting between her legs as she attempted to braid her hair, she was willing to do anything that would pass significant time and take her mind off her impending date. Her mother was laughing at her and chatting about first dates that she had been on whilst her dad had been cranky from the moment that she had mentioned to them that she was finally going to have her first date with Jude. The doorbell rang and Lydia Bob Scott hit the panic button, she jumped off the table in a very un-ladylike manner, not that she cared when she was around her family. She went to run for the door but stopped as she reached her dad looking up to his face and smiling "How do I look daddy?"

His cranky face softened as his wife gave him the look but the look didn't do it, it was those beautiful eyes that he had known and loved since the moment she was born, so vulnerable and loving, she was his baby girl "You look gorgeous darling" he said leaning down and kissing her on the head

"I just have to get my bag, mama can you please answer that?" she asked with a begging smile that her mum couldn't refuse. Haley walked up the hallway to the front door with a smile on her face; she opened it and smiled at the nervous look that was on Jude Baker's face

"Hello Jude" she said with a smile as he stepped forwards and hugged her

"Hey Aunt Haley" he was fine with this, he had known Haley and Nathan his whole life, in fact Haley was his godmother but when it came to the idea of dating Haley and Nathan Scott's eldest daughter it was no secret that he was crapping his pants. He had seen every protective moment from the Scott boys and it scared him to think that one day he would be on the other end of that spectrum. He was fine with them as long as the prospect of him dating their daughter wasn't mentioned and when it was he would get incredibly nervous "Is, um, Lydia ready to go?"

"She will be down in a second, would you like to come in?" this was kind of an odd experience for Haley too, she was so used to the Baker clan just walking into her house and joining in and often making the fun, now she was inviting one into her home. Jude reluctantly stepped into the house, if he could have sold standing outside without sounding rude he definitely would have done that instead. As he stepped into the house he noticed that the atmosphere was completely different and he found himself thanking his lucky stars that Jamie Scott wasn't in town to make things even more awkward, knowing him he would have made some joke that would have got him and Jude into massive amounts of trouble, Jamie for making the joke and Jude for being the guy taking out their daughter.

"Hey Nate" Jude said walking into the room with a smile and receiving a look that he didn't recognise at all and a very short response

"Don't worry about him, he is just freaking out cause you are taking Lydi out" Sammy said walking up to Jude and then giving him a high five "Don't worry I've got your back"

"Thanks Sam my man" Jude said with a laugh

"So where are you taking her tonight Jude?" Haley asked politely trying to make idle chit chat since her husband was well and truly not up for it

"Oh no!" he said putting his head in his hands "I knew I had forgotten to do something, I was so distracted by the vase" Haley quirked her eyebrow and tried to hide her smile "I really didn't want to stuff up this date and look at me, the date hadn't even started yet and I'm already screwing up" Nathan flinched each time Jude used the word date

"It's okay" Haley said putting a supportive hand on his shoulder "I have an idea" she said before stepping away from him and grabbing a piece of paper and writing down an address "Go here, it is really fun, Lucas and I used to go all the time when we were growing up"

"Did you date Uncle Lucas too?" Jude asked curiously, he shut up when the presence of her smell wafted into the room, he knew it too well, she looked at him and smiled at him "You look gorgeous Lydia"

"Thankyou" she said as she walked towards him

"Jude can I please talk to you for a moment" Nathan asked as Jude gulped, this is not what he needed right now, he nodded and followed Nathan out of the room as Haley and Lydia looked on cautiously "Right now I'm not your Uncle Nate right?"

"Got it" Jude said with a nervous smile

"I just want to let you know that if you hurt my girl, if you do anything wrong by her you will have to deal with me"

"Okay" he had a million other things that he could have would have said to Nathan but he figured that he would save that up for the next date

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Are you sure you are ready for this?" Jude asked with his body pressed up against hers, she moved her hair away from her face and smiled at him

"More ready than I have felt about anything else in my life" she responded as he kissed her softly on the lips "Are you sure my mum suggested this?"

"She said she and Lucas did it all the time" he said smoothly into her ear "Come on let's do this. I'll go easy on you"

Lydia smiled up to him as she leant down; she swung her arms in the way he had shown her before, before gliding them back in a forward direction, tapping the pink fluorescent mini golf ball hard. Lydia watched on tippy-toes full of excitement as Jude looked at her laughing, she let out a massive yelp of joy when her ball missed the windmills propellers and went into the hole, the machine making the noise that indicated that she had made a hole in one. She turned with this cheeky smile towards him "So what was that you were saying about going easy on me?" she bantered

"Bring it on Lydia Scott" he responded with his massive smile practically glowing in the dim lanterns and tea lights of the outdoor mini golf, as he headed towards the next hole she grabbed his arm and dragged him back towards her, he came in and wrapped one arm protectively and romantically around her waist "Best first date ever"

"I did good?" he asked as she nodded before moving forward and planting her lips upon his, Jude thought to himself that if this was admiration for a good act that he needed to do good acts more often.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Even though it was a Saturday Jude had still gone for his run but today his smile was wider, partly because it had been a really good run but also his mind was off in the clouds of Lydia Scott and their date the night before. He walked back into his house and the clockwork continued around him, his brother standing in the kitchen eating a piece of toast, although this morning he hadn't bothered to have a shower or get out of his pyjamas "Looking good" he laughed as he watched his brother take a massive swig out of the milk bottle before putting it back in the fridge, clearly their mother was out of the house or he wouldn't have even attempted it. The knock on the door made Jude walk away from what promised to be a very intellectual conversation. He opened the door and let out a laugh "Ah the date was so good last night that you had to rush over to be with me?" he asked with a smile which she returned with a laugh

"Actually….I'm here to see him" she pointed behind her to where Davis grinned

"How does that feel Jude? Your girlfriend is here to see the real stud" he said with a wink before breaking out into laughter, despite trying his hardest not to laugh Jude turned back to Lydia

"I don't think I'm okay with my girlfriend being friends with my brother. Is there any way that I can persuade you to not be?" Jude teased

"Ah no way. Buds over studs" she said pushing past him and walking into the house

"See that Jude, its Sisters over Misters"

"You do know that you just called yourself a sister right?" he laughed as he walked side by side with Lydia to the kitchen "Step aside brother, I'm going to make a milkshake, anyone else want one?" he asked and he received a hands up from both Davis and Lydia who sat behind the bench in front of him, as he grabbed the ingredients Jude began to hum as Lydia and Davis looked at him dumbfounded between moments of going into excessive chatter about something else. Jude Baker could be described as an attention seeker, he was the star of the basketball team, he was a popular kid and usually this attention that he channelled was in good ways but he had been known to drop his pants to draw unwanted attention away from others, he got it from his mama and Brooke was actually quite proud of it. As he stood in front of his girlfriend and his twin brother getting no loving what so ever he began to sing "la la la-la la warm it up, la la la-la la the boys are coming" he started softly

"What?" Lydia said with the nervous laugh that she had gotten from her mama, he didn't answer he just continued, slowly getting louder

"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and there like, it's better than yours"

"I don't know what's more embarrassing him singing this or him knowing all the words"

"Damn right its better than yours, I can teach you but I have to charge" he sang at the top of his lungs as he crumped in the kitchen

"I'm going to get mum to sign him to the label" Lydia joked as she and Davis lost it all in hysterical laughter, their stomachs beginning to hurt

"I can see you're on it…" he went to start the next verse when the milkshake machine came to a halt, causing him to do the same. Jude pretended that nothing had happened as he poured milkshakes into cups and then the back door opened and the pile of blonde curls walked into the room with a massive smile on her face

"I told you it brought them all to the yard" Jude said over to Davis and Lydia who responded by just laughing harder

"Please tell me that one of them is for me" Sawyer said throwing her bag down onto the floor before taking a seat next to Lydia, Jude winked at her and then went to get another cup whilst Davis went to get the cd that he had borrowed from her "So last night Lydi, I called your house to talk to you and your mum told me that you were out on a date." She watched as Lydia blushed and then let out an excited laugh "Wait please tell me that you and Jude actually got your act together and that you didn't just give up and find some other man on the street"

"Jude and I got our act together" Lydia said quietly not knowing if he could hear their conversation over his incessant humming

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! How did it go? Where did he take you?"

"It was really great, he took me mini golfing"

"Oh" Sawyer said not knowing what to make of the activity, giving Lydia the look that asked her without words if it was the worst date ever

"It was the most perfect first date ever" she gushed

"Something to tell the grandkids" Sawyer said throwing her head into the air in glee

"Who has grandkids?" Davis asked walking into the room and into their conversation

"Don't you worry that big head of yours" she laughed "What are you doing?"

"In response to your first statement, Ha-ha Sawyer very funny and to the second well Sawyer you curly haired devil I am putting on a cd because I can't take Jude's humming anymore" Lydia assumed that Jude had been pretending that he hadn't heard their conversation because he had clearly heard Davis and insisted on humming louder, plus when he turned around and they accidently caught eyes he winked at her.

"Speaking of first dates, when are you and Marcus going to paint the town red?"

"well I'm glad you asked, he called me last night after you abandoned me to go mini golfing with that and we have planned to meet up tonight" the girls both screamed in a gleeful excited way as Jude and Davis both turned to them and smiled "Hey did Jude ever tell you what he thought of Marcus?" Sawyer asked the question and Jude turned around as quick as he could to face anywhere but in her direction, he briefly turned his head to find his brother doing the exact same thing.

To be continued 

*Authors Note* Please let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it


	15. Chapter 15

When we were young – chapter fifteen 

"Let me get this straight, I'm grounded but I'm allowed to go on this family trip" the blonde girl questioned with a quirk of her eyebrow leaning forward from where she sat on the middle seat in the back of her car, so that she could talk to her parents over the loud music that they had grown up on and her siblings that sat on either side of her squabbling and playing games at an extraordinary loudness for such a small space.

"We have had this holiday planned well before you decided to do the rebellion thing" her father responded not taking a beat or looking away from the road that he was driving down. The whole group as a collective had decided that they needed to make the most of the gorgeous sunshine and the fact that the kids were on holidays and get away from Tree Hill for a couple of days. Before Sawyer could make another sarcastic retort the whole car was interrupted by the frustrated and loud groan from her black haired brother.

"ELLIE the rules of I-spy say that you have to say something that you can actually see" he gritted his teeth as his mother turned around, putting a hand on his knee in an attempt to calm him down

" But I can see a camel" Ellie responded, revving up to the frustration that her brother was pumping out, her older sister had sunk back into the chair and was trying hard not to laugh, Sawyer used to have these arguments with her father on long car trips and she always won.

"Okay, okay, okay kids calm down" Peyton said again turning to face them "I think that we need a new game that isn't going to get as….."

"Testy?" Lucas asked with a smile

"Whacked out?" Sawyer continued as Peyton smiled with a glance that silenced them both

"You know once on a car trip with Aunty Brooke and Aunty Haley we played this radio game where you ask the radio a question and whatever the song lyrics where was the answer to that question" Peyton looked to Lucas who gave her this squinty grin and she knew he was wondering what questions had been asked in that car so long ago.

"Okay I've got a question" Sawyer said again flinging herself forward to talk to her parents again "Will dad ever let up on this whole dating thing and you know realise that I'm growing up?" Sawyer then sat back with this look of satisfaction as Lucas Scoffed, Peyton laughed but with a side glance at Lucas leant forward and fiddled with the radio stations before coming to a stop

"_I've got the power yeah yeah yeah….."_ began blaring over the radio as Lucas let out the biggest laugh that nearly shook the car

"And the song speaks the truth" Lucas goofily smiled looking back at his daughter through the rear vision mirror, the daughter that rolled her eyes yet smiled back at him

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Wow Davis" Jude said looking up from his hand of cards to his brother "I don't want to freak you out or anything but I think that your arm hair has grown like a metre while your cast was on" he said putting down a card as his brother looked quickly down at his arm and then back up again

"What?" he asked looked at his brother a little panicked

"I'm serious dude, your turning into Chewbacca and it is really freaking me out" Jude said without a flinch as he maintained eye contact with his brother

"I know what you're doing man" he said putting his card down before turning an eye up to his one minute older brother "It's not going to work Jude, Your just trying to psych me out"

"And why would I do that baby brother?" Jude asked with his normal cheeky grin

"Because you are intimidated by my mad UNO skills" Davis said as his brother laughed at him and placed his own card down with this air of confidence as he grinned up at his brother unknowingly being watched by his mum who had turned around in her seat, before turning back to face the front and putting a hand on Julian's leg, he promptly turned to face her and receive the 'look what we created' smile.

"Are you happy babe?" Julian asked with a small glimpse over to her and then a sideways smile

"Are you kidding me?" she smirked "Who wouldn't be happy, I've got my boys and we are driving to paradise with the people that we love most in our crazy little lives, we are staying in a beach side mansion, which BTW has a lockable master bedroom" she winked at the last statement, indicating that they would have the best bedroom in the place "Who wouldn't be happy?" she asked, moments later one of her sons yelled out an expletive, the other one laughed and before she could even turn around to tell them off the air was filled with UNO cards.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Come on Nathan you start it off" Haley said with a cheeky grin "it's just the alphabet game, you just have to spot something that starts with 'A' and we are set"

"I know how to play the game Hales, we play it on every single car trip but it's harder than it seems to find something that starts with 'A'" Nathan responded as his kids tried not to laugh at the same argument that their parents had on every single car trip

"Daddy can go after me" Isabella said as her mum turned and gave her a sweet little smile

"Well good luck Iz, I don't think you're going to be able to think of anything" he said tapping the steering wheel as everyone looked to the ambitious little girl

"A is for…..Atmosphere?" the young girl looked for approval for her mum who nodded as her siblings laughed at the fact that little Izzy Scott had come up with one when their dad had been so stumped

"Damn, why do all my kids have to be smarter than me?" he said over the laughter of his family "Well except for Sammy"

Sam who was ferociously laughing immediately stopped "HEY"

"I'm just kidding buddy" he said with a smile as he turned to his again smiling son "Okay my turn my turn, B is for Bird. Ha-ha can you see that Hales" he said pointing to the sky and the bird that flew from his eyesight to above the car

"C is for Carpet World" Haley said pointing out the window to the small dilapidated old building in the small town that looked as though it had been abandoned for years

"That was just luck" Nathan smirked

"I think it's what you would call Skill baby, Okay Sammy Boy it is your turn" she said, laughing to herself how the attention in the car went directly to the boy in the back seat and how silent her incredibly loud children could be in an 'intense' situation

"D is for…Mum"

"Brainy Spice, Mum doesn't start with a 'D'" his big sister teased as she turned to him "Or are you just trying to get a hint"

"Mum" the little boy said as he looked desperately to his mother who turned and frowned at the paled boy

"What's up baby boy?" she asked

"I feel sick" the boy said as he looked vulnerable at his family, his two sisters who were both pressed as close to their prospective doors as humanly possible

"Oh Great he is going to vomit" Lydia said in the most unsupportive tone ever as the car became a zone of hysteria, Lydia and Izzy freaking out, not that there brother was sick but that he was going to be sick and it was going to end up on them, his mum trying to calm him down, the girls down and get her husband to pull over to the side of the road, his dad yelling something about being nowhere near anything that could become remotely helpful in this type of scenario. Finally after what seemed like forever they were on the side of the road, the girls were out of the car as soon as it had stopped leaving Sammy in the back on his own, his mum sitting down with him while Nathan fiddled around in the back of the car to try and find something that could double as a spew bag before going and standing in the doorway that held his wife and son to have a heavy conversation. It seemed like forever before the Scott's had devised a plan, their two daughters spinning around in circles

"Oy stop spinning and come over here, I don't need all three of you feeling sick" she yelled across to them from where she stood at the car and waited for them to approach "Daddy and I have talked and there is no point stopping now, Sammy is probably just car sick and if we stopped we wouldn't get to the place until well after dark and well we all know how good your dad is at directions when it is light outside." They all nodded in agreement "Now Lydia I am going to sit in the back and you are going to take my seat up the front"

"What about me mum?" Izzy asked looking to her mother

"You are going to sit in your seat Iz" she looked at the frown on her daughters face "Calm it Izzy, he probably won't even be sick and even if he is your legs are too short for it to touch you"

"I knew I should have gone in Jamie's car" Lydia said taking her magazine from the back seat and moving to where her mum had been sitting, she quickly made herself comfortable as her family began to pile back into the filled car, she put on her sunglasses and put her feet up on the dashboard

"It's not all bad Lydsi" Nathan said as he hopped into the driver's seat and put the key into the ignition as his daughter looked curiously at him, waiting for him to elaborate as she pushed her sunglasses down so that he could see her eyes "You get to sit and talk to me, plus you have access to your mums secret stash" he said as he winked at her and pointed at the glove box

"You stay away from that young lady" Haley said from the back as Nathan let out a laugh and turned back onto the road

X-x-x-x-x-x

"You do know that you can drive faster than that don't you?" the black haired girl asked as she looked over unimpressed at her driver

"It's not a funeral procession" the boy who they had shunned to the back seat piped up

"Don't make me regret offering you a ride" Jamie Scott said as he continued his strong gaze towards the road

"J.L Scotty Scott have I taught you nothing in your miniscule existence?" Chuck asked leaning forward, craving so much to be part of the front seat party "We are young man, and if you spend a lifetime driving like you are an old person in a minivan then you are going to miss out on so many of the great opportunities that life has to offer"

"Although it pains me to say it, I agree with Chuck on this one" Lily said turning to the main boys in her life at this moment in time

"Thankyou Roe! Any way back to my point Scotty, take a leaf out of my book, live on the wild side, don't be a chicken"

"I'm all for living life but I just don't think I'm ready to be arrested for incident exposure at a carnival and by the way I am so totally not a chicken"

"I knew you were going to throw that back in my face one day or another and I have one thing to say about it: It was a simple lapse in judgement whilst under the influence of vodka"

"Yeah it's still not appealing to me Chuck" Jamie said continuing his gaze as his best friend began to make chicken noises in the back seat "I'm not a chicken; I do plenty of crazy things"

"Name one"

"Well, Uhmm…..there was that time when…..That's not important, but I'm definitely not a chicken, the right opportunity just hasn't presented itself"

"Dude, it could take a whole lifetime for the right opportunity to _present itself_" she mocked

"So your telling me that you are not a chicken, prove it!"

"Life's about risks and you are simply not taking them"  
>"Fine what do you want me to do" he said succumbing to peer pressure<p>

"Put your foot on the pedal grandpa and overtake that truck" Chuck said as Jamie turned to look at him with this dumbfounded look "I know it doesn't seem like much of a risk taking activity but we have to pace you into it, you can't jump out of planes without a parachute on your first day of training"

"I would overtake the truck, but there is a hill and I can't see what is coming" Jamie said turning to Lily and appealing for her to get Chuck to come to his senses but she didn't seem to be budging either

"That's the risk Scott" Chuck said, he was like the devil on Jamie's shoulder

"You do realise that like a couple of months ago I was in a life threatening car accident right"

"James, you don't have to do it if you don't want to" Lily said putting a hand on Jamie's shoulder

"I don't get why I'm the one copping this Lily isn't exactly action man" Jamie said turning to both of them

"Okay, if Jamie does it I promise I will do something risk taking as well, it won't be as great as naked at the carnival but it will be something" Jamie watched her as they all watched him and then after careful consideration Jamie put his foot down hard on the accelerator and sped up past the rear of the truck, the speed that he was going at made him shake, Chuck was sitting in the back yelling like they were in a roller coaster and Lily was joining him. As they reached the cabin of the truck, the driver began honking his horn anxiously at them, abusing them as they passed and then without a moment's thought, Lily had turned to the window and pulled her top up and revealed her 'breast-icles' to the truck driver as the boys looked at her shocked. They were all in this stage of manic laughter as Jamie passed the truck and then a car that was in front of it.

"That was so awesome" Chuck said as Jamie slowed down the car "You know Lil, we could be exhibitionist together"

"No way in hell Chuck" she said before turning to Jamie in laughter, he was looking in the rear vision mirror in an intense manner "What's up?"

"Does that look like Lucas' car?" he asked as Lily gasped and then turned to the car whose lights were now flashing and whose horn was now blaring and not in a good way

"I'm so dead" Jamie said pulling over to the side of the road, he knew that his uncle was his mums best friend and he wouldn't keep something like this from her and she was going to freak out more than she usually would have because of the whole 'I was in a car crash and nearly died' complex he had managed to gain

"Not as dead as I am, my brother may have seen me flash my boobs" Lily said sinking down into her chair as Lucas pulled up behind them and jumped out of the car

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Are you going to help me at all?" she asked before making a very un-lady like noise as she pulled the suitcases out of the back of their car onto the ground, she looked to her dad who had signed her up to do this with the added promise of himself helping too, but instead he leant against the car selectively picking snacks from the Haley's secret stash that she had unknowingly left in the car when she had gone inside to find Brooke, whose car was already outside the gorgeous house when they arrived.

"You've got it covered" he said with a cheeky smile as his daughter mumbled a rude retort, as she closed the back of the car and began taking bags up the path towards the house, deciding to pick up the heaviest bag first, with a get the worst out of the way mentality

"I'm going to need a massage after this" she said, as she secretly hoped that someone would walk outside and offer to take the bags inside for her but also hoping that it wouldn't be Jude because this certainly wasn't her sexiest moment, she was pulling facial expressions that she had no control over and ones that even her dad was laughing at when he glanced back up the path before slowing to walk next to her but still not taking the bag from her.

"Do you remember the rules that we discussed?" she sighed inwardly to herself, Jude was her first official boyfriend, she had had others but not many, the Scott reputation travelled and it was a well-known fact that if you dated a Scott you dated the whole entire clan and that was a massive clan. It didn't really surprise her how protective her father was of her but this was the hundredth time pre trip that Nathan had asked her to restate the rules that he had thought necessary for this trip.

"Yes dad" she said as she attempted to roll her eyes and not fall over with the sheer weight of the bag, she wondered if her mum had packed bricks "I'm not allowed in any room alone with Jude, especially if I am in a bikini. Kissing is to be limited and not to happen when you are within five metres and you are always watching"

"You got it kiddo" he said with a smile as he put a lollipop in his mouth, taking fuller strides ahead as she continued to struggle with the suitcase, he turned around and gave her this look "Hey Lydia, you do know that that bag has wheels right?" he said with a laugh before speeding up to a pace that she had no way of catching up to him and responding with vengeful acts. She put the bag down and wrenched the handle out, she supposed that it could have been worse, at least it had only been her father that had seen that embarrassing act and she was pretty sure that within her lifetime she had done more embarrassing things than that. Lydia went to walk up the path but stopped and turned as she watched two more cars drive up the driveway, her uncles and her brothers, both of whom contained people she wanted to see. It seemed as though Jamie, Chuck, Lily and Sawyer all jumped out of the car at the same time with Lucas' weary eyes resting upon them. Sawyer and Chuck both had smiles on their faces, Sawyer's was more subtle and coy whereas Chuck's was broad and inviting, Jamie was frowning and looking back towards the car that their uncle had just jumped out of, she noticed that he looked kind of nervous but not nearly as nervous as Lily looked.

"What happened?" she asked as they walked towards her, Sawyer looked at the others in a way that indicated that they should be the ones to tell her

"I'll tell you what happened Girly Scott" Chuck said with this overexcited tone that Lydia couldn't help to smile at but before he could answer Jamie had lightly smacked the back of his head as he walked past him

"Shut up Chuck" he said as he walked past the group, sensing Lydia's confusion and questioning Sawyer whispered in her ear so not to alert others

"I'll tell you all about it later" she quirked her eyebrows, thanking her lucky stars that for the moment her dad's focus wasn't on her rebellious act but her aunties.

X-x-x-x-x-x

The house was gorgeous, a two story beach home with masses of bedrooms and a stunning open setting, out the back of the simple yet elegant double doors that lead onto the porch was their own private pool, if that wasn't enough, verging off the patio and down a small flight of stairs took you directly to a beautiful beach. If this house was anything to go by then this holiday was going to be fantastic. After unpacking bags, kitchen supplies and settling in it was decided that a trip down to the beach was needed to soak up the radiant afternoon rays that they had managed to catch. The family as a whole, or the ones that had wanted to go down to the beach took up a decent patch of the hot sand, hours and hours could go past without them making a move, other than to create conversation or laugh at another's expense. Sawyer and Lydia could be described as polar opposites in the looks department; Sawyer was a pile of her mama's blonde curls, with her lanky slender figure that could probably be attributed to both her parents and her delicate pale skin looked almost milky as she rubbed the sunscreen that her mum had passed down the line of people in a precautionary way, Whilst Lydia had a dark, thick, brunette mane that alternated between wavy and straight depending on the day, her figure was more hourglass and her skin was almost a light olive but despite the difference in look they could both rock a bikini and the admiring looks that they received from boys that walked across the beach was a clear indication of that. Jude was very wary of looking for too long, he knew that eyes were on him this trip, that he could let go to a small extent but not to push his luck. It was odd, he had known Lydia his whole life, so these holidays had been frequent for him, every summer it was the beach or the pool or the sprinklers in the back yard, he had seen all of her contours before but it had never seemed as intimate as it had right this very moment, She was aware of it too, she could feel his eyes travelling across ever single inch of her bare skin and she felt herself almost blush, she hoped it was subtle though because this family had little boundary and if they saw it without a doubt they would tease her, by god they would tease her.

"Okay Kids we are going to head up to the house" Peyton said as Lydia lifted her head off her towel and turned to look at them noticing that nearly everyone had disappeared, her Aunt Brooke was standing next to Peyton and her mum was already at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the house following a whole line of kids but both her dad and her uncle weren't budging "You two coming?" she asked as everyone turned their attention to the boys sitting on the beach, looking at each other as if for some kind of conformation before Lucas turned and shook his head at his wife "Come on guys" Peyton said leaning in "What is going to happen? They are on a beach, a public place, there are people everywhere and we are just a couple of metres away"

"Maybe we should ask Brooke that question" Nathan said with a cheeky smile as Brooke let out a laugh that in no way could be construed as embarrassed, she certainly wasn't embarrassed about her past, okay maybe she was a little embarrassed that Nathan knew the story, while the adults all momentarily turned back into teenage versions of themselves their teenagers all groaned, well the boys did at the idea that their mum had had a kinky moment on some beach past but Sawyer and Lydia both looked at their aunt with this awe struck look, Lydia considering how much Brooke was able to get away with when she was their age compared to what Lydia could get away with now.

"Come on" Peyton said with one last convincing smile as the boys again with a glance confirmed with each other before beginning to stand up, just as Nathan turned to give his daughter one last 'you know the rules' look, two young-ish boys walked up behind them, clearly checking them out

"Nothing to see here boys" Lucas said as he gave a ferocious gaze as the two briefly smirked but then speedily walked off as Nathan matched and enhanced his brothers protective father look. Lydia would have laughed if her dad hadn't added as he headed off up the beach with the rest of the adults

"That goes for you too Jude"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"So has your dad told you how long you are grounded for?" Lydia asked as she sat on her striped towel, still on the beach with Sawyer and Davis but now in the distance came the retro colours that indicated that the sun would soon have disappeared.

"Well we discussed it and he has settled on fifty five years, mum said at least a month and now they have to sit down and come to a number somewhere in between the two" Sawyer said looking out at the ocean "Which really sucks because after the date with Marcus I really thought that I could potentially fall for him and that he might have been falling for me but even if he was and dad didn't scare him off with his anger issues when I finally did get home, by the time I am finally off death row he might have lost all interest in me"

"I doubt that that is possible Sawy, he a good guy and your still going to see him at school and at cheer practice" Davis tried to not look at either of the girls as they talked about Marcus, those girls knew how to read his subliminal eye messages, they all often had eye conversations but he didn't think that they would like what his eyes had to say, thank goodness Jude was still somewhere running up the beach because he was definitely not blessed with the subtle gene

"Dad is at cheer practice, I wouldn't even be surprised if dad tried to kill Marcus at the next training session" she said with a sigh, Tree Hill had eyes baby and there was no doubt that those eyes would report instantly back to her dad

"I've seen you get out of a lot of worse things with your dad, if you apply that Sawyer Scott determination you will be out of the cell and back into the land of the living by the time this trip is over" Lydia stated, while Sawyer had some doubts in her cousins thought process she didn't have time to respond to it, a boy came flying down the steps and darted into the water, tripping over air and face planting into the water, she looked back up to where he had come from and found Lily and Jamie at the stairs, when they momentarily stopped to hunch over in laughter she realised that the face planting idiot had been just that, the idiot that they knew as Chuck. Jamie walked onto the beach and threw his towel down next to his sisters before unsuspectedly picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder as she screamed and he ran towards the water, Lily stripped down into her bathers and walked towards the water with Sawyer soon at her side, Davis picked up a ball and threw it to Chuck who waded out deeper into the water as Davis made his way in. Jude ran back up the beach, he could hear joyful girly screams from his starting destination and thought to himself that Davis must have been in the water, he turned just in time to see Jamie dunk Lydia into the vast, light blue ocean. He let out a laugh as he leant down to catch his breath and as he came upright with the hopes of running into the water and joining his family he was alerted to the presence of another male

"Hey do you know those hot girls?" for a moment he didn't know who he was talking about, until the guy with his tanned and toned arm pointed to where the laughter was coming from

"Yeah" he said with a stern protective look that would have even made Nathan proud

"We are having a beach party tomorrow night; you can all come if those girls come" he said as Jude nodded, he waved and then they headed in different directions up the beach, Jude ran towards the water and tackled his brother into a wave.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Morning" Davis said as he walked into the kitchen where various members of the group huddled within, he picked up a fresh donut from one of the boxes that had been picked up by Haley, his mum and Lydia earlier in the morning, he placed it on a plate, walked over to the table and took a seat next to both Sawyer and Lydia

"How did you sleep baby boy?" Brooke said walking past him and ruffled his hair

"Not well" his mum looked at him as thought to question why "Apparently 'Vacation Jude'" he used the title that Jude had dubbed himself with in the car on the up to describe a more relaxed persona "talks in his sleep"

"I do not" Jude said as he walked into the room to where his mum threw an arm over his shoulder and hugged him

"You do too" Davis said adamant that the thing that had kept him up the majority of the night had been his brother on the other side of the double bed

"What did he say? What did he say?" Sawyer asked looking from boy to boy with this weird level of excitement "Did he say _Oh Lydia, yeah Lydia that's the spot_" she asked with a laugh as Davis looked at her with this cheeky grin of approval and both Jude and Lydia looked at her with this look of outrage "Oh come on guys we were all thinking it" she said with a shrug of her shoulders as she took the last donut from the plate on the table.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"So you never told me what happened with Jamie and Lily on the car trip up" Lydia stated as she treaded the pool water with her toes, she sat with Sawyer on the edge of the pool with her arms holding her up as she leant backwards to allow the warm sun to make its mark on her skin, Jude was in the pool swimming around and Davis was lying on his towel on the bricks that the sun had made warm.

"Dad caught them in like this drag race with a truck and well he also caught Lily flashing her boobs at the truck driver" after a moment of frustration at the fact that her brother had been reckless on the road after she had nearly lost him the first time, she realised that she hadn't actually heard why Lily had been so embarrassed so with a confused look she turned to Sawyer

"What?"

"Dad caught Lily flashing her boobs" Sawyer was trying really hard not to laugh, she had watched it all unfold in the car, all her father's reactions and it was hard to not mentally imagine the whole scenario again without cracking up, but when Lydia's look of confusion vanished and her laughter lines appeared across her face Sawyer found that she just couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I'm glad you find my embarrassment so funny" the black haired girl said before sitting down with them and dunking her legs into the cool water of the pool

"I need to thank you for that by the way" Lily looked at her with dipped eyebrows "His focus is no longer me and my grounding" she smiled at her aunty

"Well I am glad that I could be some sort of assistance, he still isn't talking to me you know? Thank goodness Mum and Dad are in New Zealand" she said with a sigh, imagining how her father would have reacted if he were with them "Anyway you never told me what shenanigans you got up to, to get grounded AGAIN" Lily said with a simple smirk

"Dad is just overreacting, I went on a date with Marcus and we didn't exactly stick to his rules"

"Oh the rules" Lily said with a laugh, she had been through this all "So I'm guessing you broke a couple of them" Sawyers glance was enough of a conformation "Which one? Location? Curfew? Outfit? Lips to Tongue ratio? Actually just tell me the whole story"

"Okay so Marcus came around and he met mum and dad as per dad's request, he told him that he was taking me out for dinner and that he would have me back by eleven as per dad's request. I got in his car and we were driving for a while and I asked him where we were heading…."

"Speed it up Sawyer, where did he take you?" Lily asked as she and Lydia both faced her, Sawyer had lost her phone privileges so she hadn't had the opportunity to call either of the girls and fill them in on all of the action

"He took me to Charlotte to see this really awesome band and it was so great. We had a couple of drinks, listened to the band, Kissed" her face lit up as she relived it all "But by the time we finally got back to Tree Hill it was way past midnight, dad had left me about one hundred voice messages and to make matters a lot worse I had a hickey on my neck" she laughed at the embarrassment of it and put her head in her hands as the other two girls screamed and laughed

"Did you break all the rules?" Lily asked with a cheeky smile on her face as Sawyer pulled her head out of her hands and grinned at her "You're never going to get to leave the house again"

"Hey Jude" Sawyer said as she splashed water at him with her foot to get his attention, he turned to face her as he flicked his wet hair to one side of his head "What time is that party tonight?"

"They said that it was going to start at like ten, so that the beach would be practically deserted"

"Whoa wait, Sawyer Brooke Scott how do you plan on getting to that party, your grounded?"

"It's easy I'm going to sneak out, it's at ten, if we tire our dads out today then they won't even be awake at ten"

"You are crazy" Lily said letting out a laugh, wondering where the hell her niece got all of her rebellion from, she wondered if her brother or her sister in law had a secret past that they were keeping from her "Are you going to go Lydia?" she asked looking at the girl who had been biting her lip the whole time they had been talking about it

"One in all in" she responded with a smile at her cousin before turning and looking at a still Davis "Dude are you going to come tonight?"

"Shh there isn't a need to broadcast it to the whole family" Sawyer said as she followed Lydia with her eyes as she walked over to Davis who still hadn't moved "What are you doing?"

"Checking if he is alive" Lydia said turning around to face Sawyer, Jude had now hopped out of the pool and joined the small group that formed around his brother

"Just kick him" he said as he picked up a towel and dried his face with it as Lydia gave him a dirty look

"I think he is asleep" she said leaning down, just centimetres away from his face

"Not possible" Sawyer said stepping forward past Lydia "Come on Davis we know your faking it" still no movement "Hey Davis I'm taking my top off" he continued to stay still, other than his chest which moved up and down rhythmically "Hey Davis Lydia and I are going to kiss" she waited anxiously for his response "I think he is asleep" she said turning to the rest of the group

"I'm not convinced, maybe you two should kiss just in case" Jude said as all three girls looked at him and scoffed before Sawyer walked over to the small table and picked up the sunscreen, she threw both of her legs over him and sat on his torso as the others looked on mightily confused as she squeezed sunscreen into her palm before painting a bikini top onto him with the white cream and then rubbing it in and standing up "Sawyer" Jude scolded in his brothers defence

"Are you going to wake up and tell him?" she asked with a smile

"Nope, it'll be funny" Jude said with a laugh as they all walked back over to the pool "Teach him for falling asleep beside a pool"

X-x-x-x-x-x

It was ten thirty when they had finally managed to sneak Sawyer out of the house, they had told Lydia's parents and Jude and Davis' parents where they were heading and when asked about leaving Sawyer all alone they told them that she had told them that they had to go without her and that she was going to spend the night in the bungalow out the back of the property with Jamie, Lily and Chuck. Only Lily had been aware that she was being used as an alibi, she had the perfect level of deniability if she was forced to use it but she had also said that it would be fine either way because Lucas was already mad at her for the boob incident. Lydia sat anxiously at the bottom of the steps on the beach with Jude who leant against the handle just watching her and Davis who stood looking down at his sun tan bikini when Sawyer ran down the stairs with the biggest smile on her face ever, she ran up the beach as the others followed her.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Drink this" Sawyer said as she passed the red cup to her cousin from behind her as Lydia waded in the water, her curled the end of her dress around her left hand so it didn't get wet in the water "And look what I got?" she said as Lydia took the cup out of her hand and turned around to see her cousin holding her arm out

"What is that?" she asked as she grabbed Sawyer's arm and brought it closer to her because in the darkness she couldn't identify it

"It's the number of that hot guy over there" she said pointing to the handsome stranger who was still watching her with a coy smile "Isn't that cool?"

"What happened to Marcus?" Lydia asked with a smile as she watched the waves rise and then fall in front of her

"I'm keeping my options open, what about Jude?" she asked throwing an arm over her shoulder

"What do you mean?" Lydia asked looking towards the leggy blonde

"Well seeing as this is the first chance that you have had to hang out with Jude this whole trip, alone, and you're standing in the water talking to me. He hasn't been able to take his eyes off you all night" Lydia didn't believe her but when Sawyer made her turn around she saw him standing a couple of metres with a red cup identical to her own, talking to a person that she didn't know but focussing in on her with a smile that made her heart melt, she passed Sawyer the red cup and made her way up the beach, she felt her face blush at the intensity of his gaze and looked down at the ground. In her momentary gaze at the damp sand he had excused himself from his conversation and was walking towards her, as they met in the middle she looked up from his toes to his face and then shyly smiled

"Hey" he said placing a hand on the small of her back, pushing her closer towards her but not making a move "You look gorgeous tonight" he looked a little bit flustered and she laughed

"Shut up and kiss me" she said before he leant down to allow their lips to meet as she threw an around his neck. Sawyer smiled as she watched the cutie moment, she took a sip from the red cup, and Davis walked up next to her smiling

"You did this to me didn't you?" he asked indicating to his bikini top outline, she was going to respond to him when her phone beeped, she saw that it was from her mum and gulped

"I am so dead" she said looking up from the message of 'get home right now' to Davis who was looking down at his own phone

"Correction, we are all dead" he said as he walked up the beach and interrupted the kissing, something that Sawyer assumed that he didn't mind doing before showing him his own phone with a very similar but more colourfully worded message from their mother.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Drink this" he said as he walked out of the kitchen into the living room where Sawyer and Lydia were sitting on the fold out couch that they were sleeping on, he passed each girl a mug that contained hot chocolate. They both had curlers in their hair, just for something to do and they smiled as he sat down on the bed

"I'm sorry for getting you guys all into trouble with me, I honestly thought that the plan was flawless and that even if we did get caught that I would be the only one to get in trouble"

"Relax Sawyer" Davis said as he took the mug off Lydia and took a sip before passing it back to her

"You know the rules, one in all in" she repeated as Sawyer smiled at her, Lydia turned to Davis "Do you want curly hair too?" she asked with a smile as Davis looked at them both, watching as they both took a curler and inched towards him

"You know it will hurt less if you don't fight back" Sawyer said as Lydia climbed on top of him, grabbed a decent chunk of hair and wound it around the curler before Sawyer fastened it with a clip "You look dashing" she said as she looked down at the two before noticing the look on Lydia's face as she quickly jumped up off Davis, standing up and running to the furthest corner of the bed "Did Davis try and get fresh?" she asked as both she and Davis looked at Lydia who pointed behind them, they both turned, spotted the spider and followed Lydia, all three trying to cram into the one corner. This was when Jude walked in, he looked to where they stood on the bed huddled together and screaming, to the curler in Davis' hair and looked at them puzzled

"SPIDER" Sawyer yelled and pointed to the thing that moved on the floor and Jude laughed

"Is that what you are screaming about? It's tiny" he continued to laugh

"Are you going to continue to mock us or are you going to get rid of it?" Sawyer asked as Jude looked around the room for a cup and a piece of paper. He placed the cup on top of the spider as the girls, yes he was classifying Davis as girl took a deep inhale, he then slid a piece of paper underneath it and carried it out onto the patio, he returned with an empty cup which he lifted above his head before he walked over to the bed. Lydia walked over to him and smiled before wrapping her legs around his torso as he span her around once

"You are my hero Jude Baker" she said before placing a kiss on his lips before he put her on the ground

"Mine too" Davis said jumping off the bed and following Lydia up the hallway, Sawyer looked at him, smiled and then sat down on the bed, she picked up the hot chocolate and took a sip

"What?" she asked as he continued to look at her, he knew that this moment was going to pop up eventually and he figured he had to do it now before she got too attached to Marcus who they had affectionately dubbed 'Douche-lord' "Come on Jude spit it out" he gulped and then sat down on the end of the bed

"I have something that I need to tell you" he said as she looked at him "You know how you asked Lydia to ask me if I would take Marcus out and get to know him for you?"

"That's right" she said with a smile "You haven't told me what you think of him yet have you?" he shook his head and then looked down at his palms "What is it Jude?"

"He is a dick" she looked a little taken back "He is really inconsiderate of other people's feelings, he doesn't think before he speaks and he is an attention seeker" once he started he couldn't stop

"He was probably just nervous; he had never hung out with the guys before. I'm sure that if you tried a little harder you would see how great he is"

"I don't think so"

"Well I think your wrong, I know him, I've been out with him and how you have just described him doesn't make sense at all, in fact it is so off route that you are in another galaxy"

"I'm just trying to tell you how I perceived him, how he came off to me. Just like you asked me too Sawyer, and I'm telling you because I care about you, I don't want him to hurt you." She stood up looking at him as though he had just insulted her mother, she was a cross between sad and angry "That night I punched him because his actions were so out of line, he was an absolute jerk and I doubt that that can be attributed to nerves"

"SHUT UP! Just shut up. Maybe you're just jealous of him, huh? I can't believe that you are telling me this and that you are pretending that you are doing it because you care about me"

"I am" he said standing up to follow her out of the room

"NO! if you really cared about me and you really thought that he could potentially hurt me why wouldn't you have told me straight away, if it wasn't an ego thing you wouldn't have let me go on my first date with him before telling me." She turned around to walk out "Want me to tell you what I think of you?"

"Sawyer?" Lydia said as she walked back into the living room with Davis at her side

"I think that all those things that you described him as reflect directly back onto you, you take things for granted, you string people along, you make people think that you actually care for them and then you do this to them. And your blind to what is happening around you if it doesn't involve you"

"What does that mean?" Jude asked as parents awoken by the yelling came down to see what the commotion was about

"You didn't notice or consider Lydia's feelings towards you even though they were so obvious and you certainly haven't considered how your brother must feel about this all"

"Wait what does that mean?" Lydia asked turning to a heartbroken looking Davis "Is she talking about us?"

"SAWYER" Davis yelled, he never got angry but she could tell how angry he was getting, Lydia was looking at him and wondering what Sawyer had been talking about "don't" she looked at him and instantly recognised that she had genuinely crossed the line

"Come on guys" Haley said as she walked into the room and in between Sawyer and Jude who were still looking at each other "This isn't going to solve anything, go to bed" she said as other adults walked into the room in an attempt to calm down their own children "This isn't worth it" she added as the kids finally dispersed. Haley had taken Lydia up to the room she was sharing with her husband so that Sawyer, Jude and their parents could try and disarm the bomb that had seemed to have gone off at some stage in the night. Lydia lay in between her two parents, both asleep; she looked up at the ceiling unable to close her eyes, left wondering what the hell had happened downstairs and how it had happened to involve her or her relationship with Davis and then it hit her, it was like a light bulb moment: Could Sawyer have been insinuating that Davis liked her?

To be continued

*Authors Note* Tell me what you think


	16. Chapter 16

When we were young – chapter sixteen

She put the take away coffee cup to her lips, taking a sip and filling her mouth and most importantly her body with the warm decadent liquid that she hoped would help to keep her motivated and not overly ditsy like it occasionally did if she consumed too much. Right now she needed her concentration; it had been two weeks since the horrible end to the family holiday and in that time Davis had been avoiding her like the black plague. She and Jude had been rather awkward around each other at this time as neither knew what to make of the situation or what to do next, but that didn't matter to her at the moment, all she knew right now was that her closest group of friends was divided, Sawyer refused to talk to Jude and Davis refused to talk to Sawyer and even though Lydia had no partaking in the activity of revealing his secret love she had become some form of collateral damage, stuck in this land on limbo. She knew that she could be released of it if she just talked it all through with him, put on the line how much he meant to her and how her life would suck without him, like it had been for the past couple of weeks alas to do so would require being connected by some interaction that he just refused to participate within, He had dodged her calls, ducked into random classrooms, started carrying all his books around at school, changing his usual seat in the classroom and was eating lunch in some disclosed location, anything he could do to avoid her was in motion, she understood that he was embarrassed and he probably just needed time to think it all through, calm down or something to that effect but enough was enough they had been friends for too long to let this get in the way, if he was going to avoid her she was going to make it so he couldn't. So now Lydia sat on the steps of the Baker residence, she had told Brooke her intentions and the mother of her best friend had given her his itinerary for the whole entire day because she was sick to death of her boys moping around and ignoring the people that they cared about most due to pride. Lydia ordered a coffee and hiked on over before plonking herself down and refusing to budge receiving many a strange look from passers-by, she was nearly ready to pack up and attempt later when he pounded up the pavement, a smile on his face which promptly disappeared when he spotted her on the steps, he paused for a moment and she continued to smile at him "You could hide behind the bush if you would like" she said with a whole mix of emotions: it was a little bit of a joke and a mockery of his current actions but it also stung her and brought tears to her eyes that he had been refusing to talk to her. He sighed looking up at the sky before growing his courage, walking over and sitting down next to her "What you're not going to hide? Not going to pretend you didn't see me? Point to the sky and tell me to look before darting off into the distance?"

"Lydia" he said with this desperation in his tone that immediately silenced her, she had never heard him say her name like that, so tender, filled with such raw emotion

"Davis" she said turning to face him, he looked directly forwards, refusing to meet her gaze "I'm so sorry" her voice quivered, and he turned instantly towards her

"What?" he asked holding this confused and concerned look in his beautiful eyes

"I should have known, I should have worked it out and talked to you about it, I mean I know exactly what it feels like to have the feelings that you had and I know exactly what it is like for those feelings to not be returned and I'm just so sorry" without control or purpose tears began to slip down her face and before he knew it avoiding her had become useless because she was his best friend, had been for pretty much ever and when she was upset all sense of self went out the window and he would immediately seek to comfort her, his hand slipped into hers and without word they sat applying variant amounts of pressure, it couldn't be construed as a romantic act, this was something that they had always done, when Lydia had tripped over at school when they were six and she sat sobbing on a bench as the teacher tried to get the gravel out of the open wound he had sat down next to her and grasped her hand just like he was doing now to let her know that no matter what happened he was going to be there for her, she had done the same thing when they were eight and his goldfish had died, the flushing ceremony had been hard on him and because Lydia was the godmother to 'Fillet' the fish she had been invited to the funeral, when Davis was too upset to watch the ceremony he had stepped out of the bathroom and she soon followed, sitting down next to him on the floor, holding his hand until his tears stopped.

"Lydia" he said breaking the silence, it was funny how in serious situations nicknames seemed to not exist and boundaries that had been broken years ago would somewhat reappear "You have nothing to be sorry about, I'm not mad at you, how could I be? You have been my friend forever and it certainly isn't your fault that you don't feel the same way about me, hell you didn't even know that I had these feeling"

"If I wasn't so blind maybe I would have, OH MY GOD" she exclaimed turning to him in a state of panic "That day at cheer tryouts, the day you broke your hand punching that pillar" he already shuddered he knew what she was getting at "I told you about Jude and I that day. Did you do that because of me?" her eyes filled with tears again, she hated that she was so emotional all the time, right now she wanted to be there for Davis and she couldn't help but think the tears would be taken as her making it about herself.

"Stop, just stop Lydia" he said holding onto her hand even tighter "I don't blame you for any of it, so stop trying to talk me into blaming it on you" he smiled as she looked up at him

"What do we do now?" she asked "Do you want me to leave you alone? Do you want me to never ever date a boy again and instead buy myself a whole bunch of cats? I'll do anything for you, anything that will make you feel better"

"Can you do two things for me?" she nodded "First of all, I heard that Sawyer asked you to do the Sparkle classic and you said no, I want you to do it"

"You perve you just want to see me in a mini skirt" she laughed as he did the same "Okay I'll do it but you have to come with me because Sawyer will be busy and stressed out and there is no way that I am sitting and talking to all the cheer leaders for the whole weekend, I know that sounds like a fantasy for you" she poked her tongue out "What was the second thing you want me to do?"

"I want you to be happy Lydia" his sentiment shocked her for a brief moment she supposed it had something to do with the previous skirt talk that threw her off from Davis' big heart "While it really stung that you were going out with my brother it helped seeing how happy you were with him and how happy he was making you and vice versa. If Jude makes you happy I want you guys to be together"

"About that" she sighed making sure that she had some control over her tear ducts before turning back to face him "Jude and I are taking a bit of a break"

"WHAT?" he asked a little louder than he had anticipated, his brother hadn't mentioned a single word of that, it had been a little bit awkward between the two brothers, they were still speaking, obviously, it would be kind of hard for the two of them to not communicate or to avoid each other. Their mother from the very beginning had urged them to sort it all out, she had told them that they were brothers and they owed it to each other and her to sort it all out in a mature manner. So while Jude still remained a little awkward around his baby brother and was at the moment trying his hardest to make it up to Davis they were still talking and everything was pretty much the same as it had been before Sawyer dropped the crush bomb.

"We talked and we decided that it would be what was best for everyone" she wasn't going to cry, she was determined not to cry

"Well I'm not okay with that" he stated matter of factly as he looked towards her and she shrugged her shoulders

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jude went to the pantry and grabbed the chocolate bar that he had hidden up the back so that no one in his family would take it upon themselves to rid him of the deliciousness that was yet to touch his lips, he unwrapped it from its wrapper and looked at it with such lust, a hint of drool formed at the side of his lips, yes he was and had been having fantasies of this particular chocolate bar not in a creepy food fetish way but more of a middle of the basketball season staying in shape diet sort of thing that denied him the regular pleasure of snacking on the chocolate coated caramel and nougat flavouring. He closed his eyes and brought the bar to his lips, opening his mouth and slowly, in an attempt to savour the flavour, brought it towards his mouth. Jude anticipatorily clamped his jaw shut as his brother karate chopped the bar out of his hands and onto the floor of the kitchen

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Jude yelled outraged as he looked from his brother down to the poor defenceless chocolate bar

"I'm not okay with this Jude" Davis said, putting his hands onto his hips the way that his mother would when she was trying to discipline them or make a point

"I'm not okay with that Davis" he said pointing down at the ground and then looking up to his brother with this shocked face, he didn't know what was going on with Davis "Want to enlighten me on why you murdered the mars bar?"

"You and Lydia broke up?" he watched as his brother's face distinctly changed to a MORE sombre version

"Actually we are just on a break" he said turning away from his brother, turning back, leaning down and picking the chocolate bar up off the ground

"That is what Ross and Rachel said and it was just cover for broken up" he said looking at his brother who smirked at him but didn't respond "This is about me isn't it?"

"You know what I really don't want to talk about this Davis, what's done is done" he said walking around the island bench and heading up the hallway

"That is such a cop out!" Davis yelled louder than he meant to "Since this whole Sawyer revealing my" he gulped "crush. You have been walking on egg shells pretending that everything is fine and that everything is normal but Jude I know you, We've shared every single moment of our existence together and we tell each other everything, it kills me that that has to stop because of something that doesn't even mean anything anymore"

"It doesn't mean anything anymore?" he turned around "Of course it matters Davis, and if you are all about us telling each other why didn't you think that you could tell me that you had a crush on Lydia?"

"Because it's Lydia! I didn't tell anyone because I didn't know what the feeling was and if it was just because she was, is my best friend. But no crush is allowed to get between us you are my metaphorical and literal blood brother and I want you to stop feeling sorry for me, that's not what I want, I want you to get angry! I want you to tell me how you actually feel"

"You want to know how I really feel?" he asked as Davis nodded "I feel so ashamed, everything that Sawyer said was true I do take things for granted especially my baby brother and I'm blind to everything that happens around me if it doesn't involve me and I'm so sorry Davis"

"Forget Sawyer, she was just angry and she took it out on you and me in the process"

"She was right though" he said looking down at the ground ashamed "I just want to make it better for you in any way I can, I can step away from Lydia if you want her" Davis let out a mammoth laugh as Jude turned to him a little heartbroken "What?"

"I don't want Lydia, I've seen the way that she looks at you, and I've seen the way your face gets when you're talking about her or to her. She is my best friend and you are my brother and I want you two to be together"

"You're just saying that to make me feel better, that's just like you Davis saying things to make other people happy but not necessarily yourself. So I'm just going to go back to being Lydia's friend and let the rest sort itself out" Davis sighed, his brother wasn't giving up as easily as he wished upon the idea of just being with Lydia like his heart wanted to and then he had an idea

"Okay so I know that you want Lydia and I know that you think that I want Lydia, so how about we settle this like men" Jude quirked his eyebrow "We are going to have an arm wrestle and whoever wins gets Lydia" he didn't know why but Jude found himself rolling up his sleeve as though this was actually a logical idea

"If you think that you are going to let me win it's not going to work" he said pointing to his brother

"Wouldn't even think of it brother" he said as they sat opposite each other at the dining room table, putting their elbows on the table top and clasping hands. On the count of three it was on like donkey Kong, Davis put up a good fight against his brothers basketball biceps but eventually let his performance slip with an equally convincing struggling face, from the pressure his brother was applying to the wrestle he knew how much Jude wanted to win not only against his brother but Lydia's heart that he failed to recognise that he already had and then with one swift push Davis' arm was flat on the table and Jude let out a coy smile. "Well that's that then, good game" Davis said with an equally coy smile as he knew that both of the Baker boys had received what they wanted from this little experiment.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Now you promise that you aren't going to be embarrassing right?" Lydia asked as she jumped out of the car with her dad and her cousin

"I can't promise anything"

"Can you please remind me why you had to come?" she asked her enthusiastic dad

"Because your mum only said she would make me cookies if I chaperoned" he said with a laugh as his daughter gave him the gaze that had become a staple in his household on every single one of his children's faces from their mother "They needed extra chaperones plus I have to be there anyway to be substitute coach while Uncle Lucas is at home pitching whatever wacked out book idea he has now to publishers" he said with a smile over to his niece Sawyer "Now Lucas and I did sit down and we discussed something that he would like me to share with you, There is to be no funny business on this trip" he said with his serious stare at the girls that had literally been so little last time he looked and now they were cheerleading and going through high school and he was absolutely petrified because he could remember all the stuff he had done in high school including marrying Haley, having Jamie, getting in with a loan shark and risk taking behaviour at every single turn. As he took the moment to remember when he had last been in this spot, well other than when he and Haley had chaperoned Jamie's basketball comps, and let out a laugh as both the girls turned and looked at him "Did your grandma Karen ever tell you what she and your grandpa Larry got up to on one of these trips?" he asked as Sawyer looked at him a little grossed out at the idea that her mums dad and her dads mum had for a brief time dated "Eww nothing like that, they were more trouble than the kids who snuck out, but that's another story, and got told off by Whitey" he said with a laugh as his girls smiled at him and continued towards the bus, Marcus the blonde hair boy snuck up behind them and wrapped his arms around Sawyer's waist and she screamed causing both her uncle and her cousin to turn, there was no hiding the fact that Nathan wasn't a big fan of Marcus but that was mainly because he and Lucas had had a deep and meaningful night where they drank beer and bitched about the fact that their daughters were dating, he suspected that he would have the same feelings about any boy that was courting his niece just like how he didn't particularly like dating Jude as much as he liked regular Jude Baker. Marcus was kissing her neck and giggling as he pushed her forwards and distanced himself and her from her family "Sawyer Scott do you know the rules?" he asked on behalf of himself as the protective uncle Nate but also on behalf of his big brother

"Yes Uncle Nate, No funny business" she said looking over to her uncle and smiling before continuing the make-out session with Marcus

"Hey pom-pom girl" Davis yelled across the car park as he and his twin brother jumped out of the car and waved goodbye to their parents

"I'll leave you to it" Nathan said as he placed a kiss on the top of his little girls head as she smiled before waving at the two Baker boys bound over to her, Jude with the determined look on his face as he walked up to her, put his hand into her hair and brought her head into his, not taking breathe for a good three minutes and as he pulled away he kissed her on her blushed cheeks before stepping away.

"I really hope my dad didn't see that" she said with a laugh as she looked at Jude who then promptly did a three sixty turn with a look of dread on his face

"Well it seems the love birds are back in the building" Davis said with a smile as Lydia entwined her hand with Davis' and squeezed "Are we still bus buddies?" he asked as she nodded ferociously before turning to Jude with a look of conformation when her blonde pile of curls cousin came towards them, a shy smile on her face as she approached and tried to make eye contact with Davis Baker

"Hi Davis, could I please talk to you?" both Lydia and Jude could see how nervous she was, they assumed that the two hadn't talked since the whole thing went down, instead of responding Davis looked up at her briefly and shook his head which in turn made Sawyer catch her breath and turn to walk away, a tear in her eye

"Davis seriously?" Jude asked turning to his brother who was still holding his girlfriend's hand

"I better go talk to her" Lydia said letting go of Davis hand

"Nah I'll go" Jude said with a smile before turning around and picking up his pace "HEY SAWYER" he yelled running after her around the yellow bus

"She doesn't want to talk to you man" Marcus said as Jude finally made it around to the curly haired girl

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Yay we get to share a room" Sawyer said looking at the list on the wall that listed the two Scott's under the same room number before walking over to one of the chaperoning teachers and taking the key, before they both walked up the hallway "Aren't you excited Lydi-bob?" she asked as they reached the door and she retrieved the keys from the palm of her left hand

"Yeah" she seemed to mutter before looking up to the girl "What was with you at school?"

"Ah so that's what this is about, look I just don't feel like talking to Jude right now okay?" She said putting her bag down on the ground and flocking to the nearest bed "I know he is your boyfriend…"

"This has nothing to do with him being my boyfriend and has everything to do with the fact that are friendship group is ripping away at the seams and everyone is walking around on egg shells, I'm so sick of everyone walking around on eggshells can we just sort this out"

"Look I'm sorry Lydia I was just upset because Davis wasn't talking to me"

"And what is the difference between what Davis did to you and what you did to Jude?" Lydia asked as Sawyer's face turned to an expression on shock as her eyes welled up, she briefly looked to Lydia before turning around and pretending to unpack things

"I have some cheer captain stuff to do" she said dropping what she held in her hands onto the bed and heading towards the door

"SAWYER" Lydia yelled putting a hand onto her head, maybe broaching the topic then wasn't the best idea

"Training is in half an hour" she said with a quiver in her tone as she quickly walked out of the hotel room directly passed Jude

"What was that about?" he asked as he walked into the room where the brunette sat perched on the bed with her head in her hands

"Oh that, nothing" she said looking up and smiling at him "Hey I have to ask you something?" she said as he cautiously walked over and sat down on Sawyer's bed, with his track record with her at the moment she would probably refuse to sleep in the bed if he sat on it for too long "What's going on with us? I mean a week ago we were discussing cooling it off and today you really kissed me and it was really good" she said with a slight blush of the cheeks as he laughed before standing up, holding his hand out to her and hoisting her off the bed before linking one hand in the hoop of her jeans and the other one behind her head

"I talked to Davis" he said seductively looking at every inch of her gorgeous face as she nervously looked into his eyes, a gaze he soon joined "he said that all he wants is for us to be happy, now I know that you make me happy so I guess all I need to know now is if I make you happy" he asked with a nervous smile that was greeted by her lips as she stood up on her tiptoes "I guess that's a yes" he laughed as she returned to her normal height, he kissed her forehead before releasing his delicate grasp from the back of her head

"So I guess I'll talk to you later" she said walking over to the door trying so hard to hide her blushed cheeks and infectious grin

"I see how it is you get what you want and then you kick me out, I have to say Lydia I'm feeling pretty used" he smiled as he walked over to her and again kissed her, the affection that he was giving her right now made up for the tears she had shed when they had decided to 'cool it'

"Dude….Jude" she quickly responded in accordance with the look on his face "I've got cheer training in fifteen minutes, I have to get changed"

"I'm happy to stay for that" he said as she laughed and slapped him on the arm

"Go" she said opening the door "I'll meet up with you later" she said as he leant down, kissed her and then shut the door behind himself leaving her smiling and a blubbering mess that was brought on by romance.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Come to the sparkle classic and the basketball match it'll be so much fun Davis, we will spend all this time with you it'll be so great. How rude am I? Shouldn't I be talking to my millions of friends that surround me instead of myself, oh wait" he said leaning backwards and indicating to himself the immense amount of space around him

"Hey" a voice came up behind him that made him and all of his invisible friends jump and turn "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you, I just noticed that you were talking to yourself"

"Yeah It's a medical condition, the sparkle classic is just a stop off before the mental hospital" he said with a smirk as he turned around and noticed how smoking hot the girl who had caught him talking to himself was "ha-ha just kissing, I mean Kidding" he said blushing whilst trying to clear up his opening line but coming off more and more crazy as moments passed

"He has this habit of talking excessively when he thinks a girl is hot" a voice said behind him "Don't you Davis?" the voice was soon identified as his twin brother well his former twin brother who would mysteriously end up dead in his bed after tonight

"You two look similar" she said with a smile looking intently at the both of them as Davis considered slowly sliding down in his chair until he reached the floor and then crawling back to the hotel room he was sharing with his brother to create some booby-traps "Let me guess twins"

"You guessed right, Hi I'm Jude" he said leaning across his brother and shaking the girls hand "The older and more attractive twin" he said with a laugh as he looked at his brother who fake laughed and then applied the look of death

"I'm Ava" she said directing her gaze at Davis

"Well I better leave you guys to it, basketball stuff" he said walking away before turning back around "Hey Ava get Davis to tell you some of his great pick-up lines, he is a chick magnet my brother" he said as Ava tried to hide her laughter looking back at Davis who looked over her shoulder to his brother that looked sufficiently pleased with himself.

"So pick-up lines huh?" she said as Davis continued to go bright red "Maybe you can tell me one of them…."

"HEY AVA" a boy yelled as she and Davis both turned

"Maybe you can tell me one later, I have to go" she said with a smile

"How do you know Marcus?" he asked, this little hint of jealousy crept up in him with this little hint of protection for Sawyer

"Oh him" she scoffed "I just transferred to Tree Hill High and my parents made me join the media club because they thought that I needed an activity that would stimulate conversation" she laughed "I guess it worked. Anyway they gave me the task of attending this weekend and getting the dirt, Marcus is giving me an interview, should be riveting stuff" she said with a roll of her eyes "It was nice to meet you Davis" he guessed she had heard his name when his brother had embarrassed him

"You too Ava" he said finally able to speak over the weight of his tongue which seemed to inflate when Ava started talking to him, he watched her walk away and thanked his lucky stars that she had stopped to talk to him when she turned back around

"You know I have this theory that the younger twin is the hottest" she said with a wink as Davis went back into blush mode before a pom-pom was thrown and hit him in the face

"What was that?" Lydia asked with a laugh as she sat down next to him and took a chip from his plate

"Nothing"

"Nothing was pretty hot" Lydia said going back for another chip, dodging Davis swat that attempted to keep her away from them

"Her name is Ava; she is in the media club and happens to think the younger twin is the hottest"

"You are totally in Davis" Lydia said after letting out a squeal

"Wow" he said turning and looking at Lydia "What happened to you?" he asked in reference to her incredibly red face and manic hair

"I made the mistake of pissing Sawyer off right before cheer training and you know what Sawyer is like when she is pissed, you don't say No when Sawyer Scott is in charge" she said in a loving way with a laugh

"Yeah I have had that lesson taught to me, that life lesson cost me my stomach lining" he said referring to the time that Sawyer had made muffins for a tea party that only he and Lydia had shown up to and then proceeded to force them to eat them ALL

"Oh that was gross" she said reliving it in her mind and shuddering "Don't tell Ava that one" Lydia said with a smile

"How is Sawyer doing?" he gulped, there was no hiding the fact that he loved and deeply cared about Sawyer Scott

"Yeah she'll be okay; she is a bit down about it all. I think that sometimes we forget that she isn't as tough as she pretends to be, she is desperate to make it right with you" Lydia said patting his back as he looked down at the table in front of him "Do you want to come and help me practice my cheer moves so that I trip less next time?" she asked with a smile as he looked up at her

"Nah I've got something I have to do" he said with a smile as she nodded, kissed him on the cheek and then hobbled off.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Sawyer stood in the function room set aside for the Ravens cheerleaders before the sparkle classic, she was standing wiping a tear from under her eye when Davis walked into the room, it was like a stab in the gut seeing any of his girls cry

"So I heard that Hurricane Sawyer just hit and that there may be a need for some replacement cheer leaders" he said with a smile as she turned around and smiled back at him, nodding as she continued to wipe tears "I was wondering if I could audition?"

"Any music requests?" she played along, this was as much conversation as they had had in almost three weeks

"I'm pretty versatile, my ears hear the music and my body interprets it in rocking moves" he said in full seriousness as she laughed and pressed the play button, Davis approached the stage and threw his jacket off to the side before throwing out some classic moves, he had Sawyer wetting his pants when he did the worm followed by hip thrusts, the sprinkler, the shopping cart and a star jump as the music finished "So what do you think?"

"You definitely have Ravens potential" she said with a smile as he jumped off the stage

"So do you still want to talk to me?" he asked as she nodded and he stepped forward

"Davis" she said before breaking into body wrenching sobs "I'm so sorry, I got caught up in the moment and it just slipped out and it shouldn't have and I'll never forgive myself for that ever. I didn't do it intentionally I swear. I would totally understand if you never ever wanted to be associated with me again but please Davis, please, please, please, please, please forgive me" she said almost choking on her own tears as Davis tried to wipe them away

"How many years have we been friends Sawyer?"

"Forever" she said taking a moment to calm herself down

"And how many times have we stopped talking?"

"Lots, but this isn't one of those times when you broke my Barbie doll or when I said Jude was the cooler twin, they never lasted more than a day, this one has lasted weeks and I crossed a line, if I was you I would hate me"

"Yeah you did cross a line" he said it and she went back to blubber mode "But I could never ever hate you ever you are my Sawyer, you are my wingman" he said grabbing her shoulders and dragging her into his chest where he promptly hugged her tightly "I'm sorry I was ignoring you" he said kissing the top of her blonde locks, even though she was older than him, he and his twin brother managed to tower over the two girls

"There has been something else that has been on my mind since the holiday" she said a little muffled into his t-shirt

"Spill" he said rocking her slightly

"Do you still have the bikini top tan?" she asked as he laughed "I'm glad we are talking again" she said with a smile

"I think you need to talk to Jude" he said, willing to take the risk considering he was pretty sure she was too happy with him to get mad again "He really did think he was doing the right thing by telling you about Marcus, he just hesitated because he wanted to do what was best for you and it seemed like you were really into him"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Are you ready?" he asked as she pranced around the room in her cheerleader outfit continuing to try and perfect her moves, Sawyer was sitting on her bed getting herself ready and laughing at her best friend whilst Davis threw lollies around the room and Jude who she was still ignoring was practicing the moves with Lydia, she guessed that it was a step in the right direction.

"Sawyer are you sure you don't want me to sit out of this, this is your last ever chance to win the sparkle classic and I couldn't live with myself if you lost because of me"

"Come here you dork" she said holding out her arms as Lydia jumped down on her, legs flying everywhere forcing Sawyer backwards onto the bed as they all laughed "today isn't about winning or losing it is about getting out there and showing them what we've got whilst having the most fun of our lives, take it from me I'm not competitive…" simultaneous scoffs occurred around the room "Whatever" she said with a smile "I wouldn't keep doing this if it didn't bring me joy, it wasn't mum who forced me or even introduced me to cheer leading in fact she laughed for like an hour when I told her I wanted to cheer and it definitely wasn't dad although he did suggest to the board that our cheer skirts went down to our knees and that none of our torso should be showing, I do this because I love it and I will continue to love it regardless of whether or not Lydia trips on stage" she said with a smile as Lydia gulped and the hotel room door opened

"Alright Girl on Girl action" he said as he walked into the room causing both of the Baker boys to turn to each other and roll their eyes "I like your cheer knickers Lydia" Marcus said with a smirk as Lydia quickly leapt off Sawyer and made sure her assets were covered as he sat down on the bed and began to kiss Sawyer.

"Okay Lydia I'm going to give you a lolly every time that you get a move right" Davis said putting a hand into the bag of lollies

"Dude I'm not a dog" she said with a scowl

"How about I throw them and you catch them in your mouth?" he said as he looked at her not quite sold on the idea "It'll take your mind off the tiny skirt" he said as Jude smirked and all three of them tried to ignore the make out session and presence of Marcus. Davis threw a lolly into the air, Lydia stood with her mouth open watching and waiting

"You can't just stand there and wait for it to come to you" Jude said jumping in front of her and angling himself to catch the lolly but when it seemed like he was going to catch it Lydia tackled him and caught it in her own mouth which lead to a mass pile of giggles from everyone including Sawyer and Marcus who tuned into the action just before the incident and continued to watch as Lydia did a victory dance around the room

"If in doubt Lydi break some of those moves out" Sawyer said as Lydia danced with her back to the door which opened and as she span forced Lydia directly into her father's arms

"You right Lyd" he said with a laugh looking down at the little carbon copy of his wife who grinned at him, poked her tongue out and pointed at the lolly that still sat there

"Caught it"

"Okay" he said with a laugh before turning to the rest of the kids in the room "It's time to go"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"That was so amazing" Lydia screamed over the cheering of the crowd as the Ravens ran off the stage and into the wing, filled with adrenalin

"And you didn't even have to bust out any of those Lydia Scott moves"

"What are you doing tonight?" Lydia asked as Sawyer pulled her towards her and put her chin on the top of the brunette locks

"Marcus and I were just going to hang out in the hotel room, hopefully celebrating the fact that we won the sparkle classic. You?"

"Well Jude and I were just going to hang out in the hotel room, hopefully celebrating the fact that we won the sparkle classic" she said with a laugh "Don't worry I'll get Jude to meet me someone else, we were just going to order junk food and watch reality TV"

"That kid pretends to not be exactly like his dad but he totally is" Sawyer said with a laugh

"Hi, I'm really sorry to interrupt but I'm Ava and I was wondering…."

"So you are Ava?" Lydia asked with a coy smile as the girl looked at her confused "oh sorry that was creepy" she said with an apologetic look "I'm friends with Davis and he mentioned that there was an Ava wandering around for the media club, I'm Lydia Scott and this is Sawyer Scott"

"Sisters?"

"Cousins actually" Sawyer corrected with a smile "So are you on the reporting job?"

"Actually yeah I am I just saw your routine it was pretty impressive could I get an interview?"

"ITS ANNOUNCEMENT TIME GIRLS" an official yelled over the noise demanding them all back on stage

"Can we take a raincheck on that interview?" Sawyer asked with an apologetic smile

"Definitely" Ava said returning the smile as the girls went to walk off "Hey Lydia?"

"He is right over there" she said with a smile as she pointed to where Davis stood leaning against the wall with his brother "I hope I see you around Ava" she said with a smile before chasing after the other Ravens onto the stage

Davis spotted Ava walking across to him and quickly and definitely not subtly indicated for his brother to be elsewhere.

"I've been thinking about you" she said with a shy smile as he quirked his eyebrows "I really want to know what that pick-up line was going to be" she smiled wider

"Ava, I really like you, you seem like a great girl but the truth is umm I don't know if you are ready for the greatness" he said as her serious face turned to laughter

"Come on I'm dying to know"

"Okay, but its top secret, can you keep a secret" he said as she nodded and he indicated for her to move forward before whispering in her ear which lead to uncontrollable giggles on her part

"Hey guys I don't mean to interrupt the lovey dovey moment but they are about to announce the winner and the ravens are still in the top two"

"AND IN SECOND PLACE IS THE…." The suspense in the announcement allowed for Davis and Ava to make their way over to where Jude stood giving Davis the nod of approval "THE TREE HILL RAVENS"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"HEY" Marcus said with an excited look on his face "Did we win?" he asked as she walked towards him in her mini skirt, pulling a sad face and shaking her head

"Wait didn't you come and watch?" she asked as he wrapped an arm around him continuing the sad face

"Chillax baby I was in the gym practicing for the game, don't you want us to win?"

"Jude came to the sparkle"

"Obviously he isn't as absorbed in the game as I am" Marcus said with a shrug of his shoulders as Sawyer opened the hotel room door, he walked over to the bed and lay down "Well I can be your consolation prize" he said with a smirk

"I think I would have preferred the trophy" she said with a laugh as she came over and sat down next to him on the bed

"Come here" he laughed as he pulled her down on top of him and starting kissing her, soon he had adjusted so that Sawyer was underneath him, he carefully kissed up and down her body before putting her hand up her skirt

"Whoa what are you doing?" she asked with a nervous laugh

"What does it feel like?" he smirked in return

"Not tonight honey" she said shutting her legs and pushing her skirt back over herself in an attempt to cover the very little that the skimpy outfit covered

"Come on Sawyer we have been going out for ages now, there is no need to be a prude"

"We are not having sex for the first time in some hotel room that my uncle has access to by the way"

"Where is your team spirit?" he said slipping his hand back up beyond her skirt "this may be the difference between the Ravens winning the tournament" she attempted to push him off of her with little luck and as he came up to kiss her again she slapped him in the face just as Jude walked into the room, unaware that Lydia had changed their evening plans.

"Get off me" she screamed as Jude ran into the room and hoisted Marcus off her with his super human hulk like skills before punching him twice in the face and kneeing him in the crotch as Sawyer scurried to cover herself up and clean herself up

"YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN AND I KILL YOU NOW GET OUT OF HERE" Jude snapped at Marcus who quickly obeyed his orders, Jude Baker had the pleasure of having both of his parents scary sides and the ability to use them, much like his parents he used them on rare occasions but it was scary when he did "Sawyer are you okay?"

"Yeah" she said trying to hold back tears "Aren't you going to say I told you so?" she said before breaking down in tears and running out of the hotel room

"SAWY" Jude yelled in desperation, uncertain on whether he should follow her or if he should follow Marcus and continue beating on him.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Sawyer?" Nathan asked as he walked into the hallway on the mandatory chaperone checks, he looked down at his niece who had tear tracks down her face still in her Raven's uniform "You okay baby?" he asked sitting down next to her

"Yeah I'm fine" she said trying her best to hide the fact that in any moment she could be in a hysterical pile of tears

"I think I know what's going on" he said turning his face to face her

"You do?" she wondered if Jude had gone and told her Uncle about what he had interrupted

"You guys did so great at the Sparkle Classic and if it was up to me you would have won. But what you need to remember Sawyer is that you poured your heart and soul into that competition and not winning a trophy doesn't define that what you also need to remember is that right now my very well behaved daughter is probably stealing that trophy" he said with a laugh as Sawyer did the same before breaking down into tears "It's not about cheer leading is it? Did that boy do something?" he asked as she looked up at him and cried even more "I knew he was trouble, do I need to go and beat him up gorgeous?" he asked with a smile that became pointless when his nieces heartbroken eyes looked up at him "What can I do?"

"I. Want. My. Mum" she managed to get out between uncontrollable sobs

"Come on lets go" he said standing up as she looked up at him like she had done when she was growing up

"You're supposed to be chaperoning"

"Screw it" he said as he helped her stand up and then hugged her to his chest

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Here you go baby girl" Peyton said passing her the teddy bear that she had discarded to her cupboard many many years prior to this very moment, Peyton then jumped into bed next to her and lay down with her in a hug "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Marcus wanted to have sex tonight" Peyton felt herself gasp on the inside, she didn't know if she was ready for this reality just yet "But I didn't want to and he just wouldn't take no for an answer and he wouldn't get off me, Jude had to rip him off me" she said again sobbing but this time on my mother's chest and not her Uncles, if she never saw that look of panic in her uncles eyes again she would be a very happy girl, it was all she could see on the car trip home "I thought he was a really nice guy" she said hiding her face as she continued to cry

"Oh Sawyer baby" Peyton said wrapping her arms around her tighter "Can you remember what I told you when you got your first ever boyfriend?"

"He wasn't my first boyfriend he was my date to a disco and dad made you have the conversation with me" she said laughing for a brief moment

"Doesn't matter, what I told you was that sex is special, not in a you have to wait for marriage way but in a way that it is yours to give away it is no one else's to take, you do it when you're ready not when you feel like you have to and I am so proud of you for telling Marcus no because so many girls in your position would have just had sex with him to save an argument or instead of fighting him off"

"Jude was right and I was so mean to him about it, I didn't even give him a chance to explain himself and he probably hates me and he was right all along"

"Jude doesn't hate you, he loves you and he always will" she said kissing her eldest daughters forehead

"Mummy"

"Yes baby girl"

"Can you tell me that everything is going to be okay?"

"Everything is going to be okay Sawy, everything is okay, everything will be okay, everything…" Peyton continued as Sawyer's exhausted eyes drooped down, she woke up again at three in the morning still in her mum's arms and as she turned over she saw a shadow that she instantly recognised

"Hey peppy" he said as he stepped towards the bed and squat down to her level, leaning in to kiss his daughters head "Go back to sleep honey" he said as he went back to sit down in the chair that sat next to her bed

"Dad" she said as she pulled back the duvet and patted the room not taken up by herself and her mum

_To be continued _

_*Authors Note* I know that it has been an awfully long time (or it has felt like an awfully long time) since I last updated, I've had a tonne of school work that I have been desperately trying to finish and inspiration for this story that I so desperately had to search for. This may not be my best chapter, the next one will involve a house party that might not go as well as the Tree Hill teens would have liked and the reunion of Jude and Sawyer and their friendship! Tell me what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like, what you want more of _

_Thanks for reading _

_Maggie Frost xx_


	17. Chapter 17

_When We Were Young – Chapter Seventeen _

"What did your mum want again?" Lucas asked as he picked up a shopping basket

"Chocolate" she said as Lucas laughed

"She did not Sawyer Brooke Scott" he said stepping forward "She wanted Cheese didn't she?"

"Yeah and chocolate" Sawyer tried her luck again

"Come on Sawyer you know that she as all this chocolate at home that she wants us to finish, she will kill us if we get more"

"Yeah Crap Chocolate" she laughed and so did Lucas, she wasn't lying Peyton had managed to get ten blocks of the most horrid chocolate on sale once and refused to admit how horrible it was to avoid ridicule

"We can get some if you promise that you will be able to eat it all before we get home" he laughed as she looked at him with mock insult "Just go get it"

"I love you" she said "Can I get some magic shell to pour on top of it?" she asked as she playfully punched him in the arm

"That is truly disgusting" he said turning to look at her "But an incredibly fascinating thought, get some of that too"

"And I'll get some napkins because it kind of sounds as though it's going to be messy" she said beginning to turn away from her dad

"LUCAS SCOTT" a voice bellowed behind them causing Sawyer to stop in her tracks and turn back towards her dad "I thought it was you" he said as Lucas looked on shell shocked

"Adam Reese" he said putting on a fake smile and shaking the man's hand before turning to his confused daughter "This is Adam Reese he was one of the directors interested in making 'Ravens' into a movie when that was going ahead" he didn't really want to tell her about how the man in front of them had tricked Julian's father into giving him the directing job, or the fact that his ideas were obscure and nothing like what Lucas imagined his story to be let alone the fact that on their first official meeting with him, Adam had snorted cocaine right in front of them.

"This is Sawyer" he said reluctantly

"Lovely to meet you Sawyer" he said as he reached out and shook her hand "It's nice to see that you have traded in for a newer model Lucas but did you have to pick one that looked like the last one"

"Actually I'm the daughter" she nervously laughed

"Well hello darling" Adam said with a wink

"I think I'm going to go over there" Sawyer said as she looked to her dad

"Please go over there Sawyer" Lucas said feeling unsettled with Adam's presence, he watched Adam watching his daughter walking away, Lucas wanted to punch the smirk off his face when he looked back up at Lucas

"You and Peyton have really good genes"

"Can I please come with you Sawyer?" he whispered out to the universe displaying his discomfort

"So how have you been anyway buddy?" Adam asked as he patted Lucas' arm

"Good, how about you?" he asked out of courtesy

"Man I'm so glad you asked, the Reese man isn't doing so well, this happy façade is fake" he said putting his head onto Lucas' shoulder "I was in this relationship with my masseuse which was great I got all the free massages I wanted and Happy endings were promised" he winked "But then she broke up with me"

"That's not good" Lucas tried to be sympathetic

"And do you know the worst part?" he said looking at Lucas incredibly serious "I have to pay for massages"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"This is so not fair" she sulked as she sat down on a stool that faced the kitchen and both of her parents

"Come on Lydia give it up I'm not giving in" her father said as he pulled out a cup and a bottle of orange juice as Haley poured mixture into the waffle iron "Can you remember who the boss is in this house?" he asked with a smirk

"Mum" she responded as she stole his glass of orange juice and skulled it in front of him "I just don't get the big deal of my request, when Jamie was my age he got to stay home by himself while we went to Nanny Deb's, what's so different now?"

"Well Jamie didn't have any friends so we weren't worried that he was going to throw a mega keg party" he laughed as his daughter gave him daggers for not taking her and her conversation seriously

"It's not a joking matter dad; in fact I am going to take a vow of silence until you agree to my terms"

"Finally some silence" he said taking the cup off her and pouring more juice into it before taking a victory sip "If I knew it was that easy to obtain I would have pissed you off years ago" he again laughed

"Mum?" she tried her luck at the smirking woman behind her father

"I'm not getting involved, you've got to sort it out with your dad" she said looking up from the waffles that she was trying to get out of the iron without burning her fingers

"I promise that a Keg will not be on the premise at any point during the weekend and Sawyer will be here with me" this was more of an assumed statement "doesn't that ease your worry even slightly"

"Not really"

"Come on dad, at school they tell us that our parents have to slowly introduce us to greater challenge and responsibility in order for us to grow as individuals and blossom into respectable adults. And me staying home alone for a weekend is a great test of trust and responsibility or do you want me to be living on your couch as an adult not amounting to anything or worse in a caravan with a whole bunch of cats"

"Cats are a great responsibility Lydia" she gave him the look again " ok look…" he said turning to his wife as Lydia witnessed a conversation between her parents where no words were exchanged just glances, as though their eyes were the key to their understanding of each other "I guess that you can stay home alone this weekend" the words barely escaped his mouth before she had screamed and ran around the bench wrapping her arms around her father "You may remember Jamie getting to stay home alone but I bet you don't remember that there were very specific rules such as: you are to always answer your phone when either your mother or I call you and failure to do so will result in Uncle Clay coming to pick you up and you staying there for the rest of the weekend, make sure all doors and windows are locked when you go to bed, the house has to be clean when we come back and last but definitely not least your boyfriend is allowed to come over in the day but he is not allowed to sleep here"

"Did Jamie follow the boyfriend rule?" she smirked

"Don't Sass mouth me girl" he smiled back as she laughed "And at any sign of trouble call one of your Uncles or Aunties"

"Can do dad" she smiled as she hugged him again.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Peyton walked down the stairs of her large open home and into the space which took you into two different areas depending on the way you turned at the base of the stairway, Peyton chose to turn left and headed towards the kitchen in a hunt for coffee. Her three kids sat around the kitchen, Leo and Ellie sitting at the table chowing down on their cereal and Sawyer sat on the bench eating a toaster pastry

"Good morning" she smiled as she walked to the coffee machine

"Mum" Sawyer whispered as her mum approached her "What is he even doing here? He seriously is creeping me out"

"Well that isn't very fair Sawyer he lives here and I'm sure that he didn't mean to creep you out, or maybe he did but can you blame him? He is just a little boy"

"Wait who are you talking about?" Sawyer asked with her eyebrows burrowing together in confusion

"Leo" she said lifting her coffee cup up to her lips "Who are you talking about?"

"That Adam guy that dad and I ran into at the supermarket and who ended up coming home with us"

"Don't worry babe your dad sent him on his way last night and I'm sure if your dad has anything to do with it Adam Reese won't be coming around here anytime soon"

"Mother where have you been? He is asleep on our couch and I'm pretty sure that he isn't wearing pants which means I can never sit on that couch again" she pretended to gag

"What?" Peyton said as she placed her cup down on the table and heading back towards the stairs this time towards the right which lead to the living room and there her worst suspicions were confirmed and whilst she wasn't willing to investigate further she was pretty sure that Sawyer was right when she said he wasn't wearing pants, now it was her turn to gag. Peyton stormed back up the hallway and ran into the scape goat of her fury "LUCAS SCOTT" she harshly whispered

"What?" he asked as she lead him up to the middle of the stairway as though being slightly elevated would mean that the people on the lower level of the house couldn't hear the conversation she was about to have with her husband

"Don't what me" she said putting her hands on her hips "What is Adam Reese doing on our couch?"

"I didn't want to put him in a guest room and let him get too comfortable, I have a feeling that if he got comfortable he would never ever leave"

"Safe assumption but I'm referring to the fact that he is here at all, I thought that you said that he would be gone by now when I went to bed last night"

"What can I say he was really cut up about having to pay for his massages" Lucas slightly laughed as he wiped sleep out of his squinty eyes

"It's not funny Luke" she said playfully slapping his arm "Sawyer is creeped out, I bet he was trying to flirt with her, and to make matters worse we are pretty sure that he isn't wearing pants"

"You looked?" Lucas quirked his eyebrow

"It's hard to miss Lucas"

"I'll be sure to tell him that, it might even lift his spirits enough for him to find the courage to not only put some pants on but leave here"

"Do whatever it takes to get him out of here" Peyton said as they descended and Sawyer walked towards them

"I think I'm going to go and stay with Lydia for the weekend"

"Good idea" Peyton said as she tussled the blonde curls of her daughter

"I promise he will gone by the time you get back baby"

"You might want to clean the couch while I'm gone as well" she smiled before passing her parents and climbing up the stairs in the direction of her bedroom

X-x-x-x-x-x

"I promise that I will take really good care of her Uncle Nate" Sawyer said with her sweetest smile, a smile that Nathan was nervous about, that was the smile that his gorgeous niece Sawyer always got right before something troublesome happened

"Bye Mum Bye Dad" Lydia yelled clearly over excited at the prospect of staying home alone, well technically not alone but without parental supervision. The girls both watched as Haley and Nathan Scott waved goodbye and drove out the driveway with their two youngest children

"Now what are we going to do with all this freedom Lydia Bob?" Sawyer asked throwing an arm over her cousin's shoulder as they turned to face the front door and as though on cue a car drove up the driveway behind them

"What did you forget?" Lydia asked as she heard a door open and turned around "Aunt Quinney" she said with a smile before coming to a realisation "Did my parents send you over?"

"No Of course not" the blonde woman laughed as she got out of the car

"But they sent me over" a voice bellowed from behind the passenger side door as it opened and the grown up face of Logan Evans popped out and smiled at her

"LOGAN" she yelled as she ran over to her older cousin and threw her arms around his neck. Logan had left for college this year and it was an understatement to say that Lydia and the whole James-Scott-Evans family was noticing the cheeky blonde haired boy's absence

"But only if you want me" he said as she let go of his neck, leaving one arm over his shoulder as she stood on her tippy toes

"We want you" Sawyer yelled over to her cousin and her cousin's cousin

"It's great to see you Sawy" he said walking up to her and giving her a hug before they all walked inside continuing conversation about all of the entertaining things that had been happening in their lives while the others hadn't been present and like clockwork as they shut the front door and made it to the kitchen, the front door opened again followed by a dragging noise that caused them all to turn and look up the hallway to find Davis Baker

"Dude my parents are only away for two nights you didn't need to bring your whole bedroom" she laughed looking from Davis' red face to the large bags that he continued to drag until he stood mere metres from the group

"I needed options"

"What for? We are just having a chilled out couple of nights" Lydia asked as Davis looked at her confused

"Well if I'm going to see Ava then I want to look my best"

"When are you seeing Ava?" Lydia asked lunging towards his arm in excitement; Davis was pretty smitten with this new love interest

"At your party tomorrow night Lydia" he said slowly as though it was something that she really should have known

"Party?" Lydia asked looking towards all eyes in the room

Davis laughed nervously "The party that Sawyer told me that we were having tomorrow" with that all eyes turned to Sawyer

"Sorry" the blonde said with an apologetic grin

"We aren't having a party" she said looking from face to face around the room, focusing in on her aunties to make sure that Quinn knew explicitly that they were not going to be partying at all

She laughed "Okay I'm going to leave now so I can deny any prior knowledge when your mum gets back" she said throwing her bag over her shoulder and blowing a kiss before walking towards the exit, silently hoping that the party that her niece was inevitably going to throw within the next twenty four hour period, would not turn out like the parties she and Taylor had thrown many moons ago

"I can't have a party" Lydia said with this panicked look in her eyes "It was in the specific rules"

"What did your dad actually say?"

"That there wasn't allowed to be a keg on the premise"  
>"There are ways to work around that" Sawyer said with a coy smile, Lydia knew that this girl and her plans were going to get her in mega trouble but somehow she couldn't resist them<p>

"Sawy, if my dad finds out I am literally dead meat and he will never trust me home alone again"

"We will make sure that your folks never ever find out" Sawyer said as she wrapped an arm around her cousin "Wont we guys?" she said indicating to the two distinctly different boys, not just in age and genetic make-up but facial expression. Davis was clearly a ball of nerves and Logan had this hidden smirk, she had no doubt that he was recalling the crazy parties he had thrown when he was still living at home which to a younger version of her had acted as urban legends. It was one of the reasons that Logan had always seemed cool to her, he was sweet but he had this killer partying streak about him that he didn't just bring out for anyone. They both nodded.

"Fine, but Sawyer I swear to god that if this backfires you will owe me big time" she said as Sawyer and Davis both jumped in excitement, something that Davis would deny if ever asked, before Sawyer planted a kiss on the side of his face

"Okay Davis show us your options" Sawyer said with her infectious inherited Peyton Sawyer smile as Davis dragged his bag up the hall.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Maybe we should just go home, Cooper is going to be there anyway so it's not like mum is going to miss us" Nathan said griping the steering wheel tightly

"Nathan Scott please don't be an old woman about this" Haley said with a smile as she put a hand to the side of her husband's cheek "Lydia is growing up, you are going to have to grasp the idea at some point" she watched her husband's face tense, Lydia was his main girl, from the minute that Lydia Bob Scott had entered the world she became the adored girl, It was like Nathan had locked eyes with Lydia's deep brown ones and they instantly became soul mates, and he was finding it so much harder to let his little girl grow up than it was when Jamie was the same age

"If we make her start smoking she won't get any taller" Haley rolled her eyes "And what if she has a party?"

"Nathan I know it was a while ago but we were teenagers once and remember it or not we got in trouble, Your kids are going to get in trouble from time to time, it's a rite of passage"  
>"I love how they are 'my' kids when there is mention of trouble"<p>

"She is going to be fine, Sawyer is there with her, the Baker boys will probably be there too and she has pretty much every aunty and uncle within a five minute radius of her"

"Maybe I should call Jamie and get him to go up and check on her" a similar interaction had occurred between Jamie and Lydia when she was born

"We are only gone for two nights; we will be home by Sunday afternoon. Do you really want to be a helicopter parent?"

Nathan ignored her "Isabella my darling" he said indicating to the younger Scott girl who peered up from whatever was keeping her from asking the dreaded 'are we there yet' question to look up at her dad with this sweet smile "You are going to stay my baby girl forever right?" he asked as she nodded, only slightly coerced by her mother

"Look on the bright side Nate, I don't think that she will be able to do all the troublesome things that we did in our teenage years in one weekend" she said with a laugh

"That's it I'm turning the car around" he said trying to hide his own laughter as his wife nearly wet her pants next to him

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Come on Davis" Sawyer yelled as she sat with Lydia and Logan on the couch "It can't be as bad as the last outfit"

"These pants feel odd" he said as he walked out towards them, it was an odd walk, as though he was just learning how to after a period of not being able to

"Where did you get those from?" Lydia asked leaning forward as her two cousins on either side of her sprawled out on the couch loudly laughing

"I think they were towards the back of the wardrobe" he said looking down and then back up at Lydia

"I'm pretty sure that you wore those pants to the fifth grade dance" she was trying to not laugh at the poor boy standing in front of her but so far her efforts were slowly dwindling

"So that's a no?" Davis asked as his best friend nodded at him

"I think it's a bit too early in the relationship for Ava to see you in pants that snug my friend" Logan said as he regained his composure, just as Lydia lost hers

"Uhmm guys" a muffled voice came from behind a bedroom door "I can't actually get these pants off" this made them laugh harder "This isn't funny" he said walking out with the button of the jeans opened and the zip half down as he tried to jiggle his way out of them

"Wait he is being serious" Logan said standing up and wiping a tear from under his eye "I'm going to go find some scissors before those pants fully cut off his circulation" he said leaving the room whilst laughing at his own joke

"Maybe you just need to pull harder?" Sawyer said as she stood up and walked towards him

"I'm trying Sawy" he said continuing to jiggle

"Let me try" she said taking a step towards him as he took a step back

"I don't like that determined look being paired with the taking off of my pants" he gulped

"Don't be ridiculous Davis, it isn't at all sexual" she said as she knelt down, wrapping two fingers in the holes left for a belt, she pulled hard until the material gave way and she fell down onto the floor boards, she looked up and the pants were still firmly on his hips

"Great, I'm going to have to live in these pants forever"

"Maybe we are just going about this the wrong way, Davis sit on the edge of the couch" he eyed her off curiously "Just do it! Lydia, I want you to weave your arms through Davis' and tightly grab hold of his shoulders" she obliged "I'm going to pull at the cuffs, are you ready?" Davis nodded as she lifted his string bean legs and attempted to pull the jeans off of him

"Ahh what is going on?" a voice came from behind them, startling Sawyer enough to let go of the pants and swing into Jude's arms, which in normal circumstances wouldn't be awkward, but the fact that she was not yet ready to talk to Jude after the Marcus fiasco proved to make the awkwardness

"Got them! Let's get you out of those pants" Logan yelled as he walked back into the room

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia sat on the couch with a spoon filled with peanut butter sitting on the end of her tongue when her blonde cousin put the pair of scissors that in a previous life had cut Davis out of his pants in front of her and smiled "What?" she said as clearly as she could with the peanut butter on the roof of her mouth

"Cut my hair" Sawyer continued to smile expectantly at her cousin as she pulled the hair tie out and let her blonde curls hit the small of her back, Lydia laughed as Sawyer continued to look at her, it only took a moment for Lydia to realise that Sawyer serious

"You aren't kidding are you?" Sawyer shook her head "Not happening" Lydia said as she stood up from the couch, picked up the tub of peanut butter and walking towards the kitchen "I will not be responsible for cutting off that beautiful hair, your mum would never let you come over here again"

"You've seen the photo albums, it would be a bit hypocritical if mum got mad because I cut my hair off" she said pushing the scissors closer to her cautious cousin

"What if I do a bad job?"

"It can't be worse than the haircut I gave myself when I was five" Lydia grasped the scissors as Sawyer smiled and clapped her hands together

X-x-x-x-x-x

"MUUUUUUUUUUUUM" Davis yelled as he shut the front door behind himself, he scanned the front two rooms of the house for his mother before heading up the hallway "MUM"

"Davis?" a curious voice beckoned from behind the bathroom door, a moment later her head popped out revealing a yellow rubber gloved hand and a bottle of Windex "What's wrong? Aren't you supposed to be a Lydia's this weekend?"

"I need your help"

"You name it baby cakes" she said with a smile

"Ha, I never ever thought I would be asking for this ever but could you…." He gulped "Could you take me shopping?"

"What?"

"Please don't make me say it again! I feel dirty"

"You want me to take you shopping?" she asked trying to hide the smile on her face

"Yup"

"What have you done? Where is Jude? What are you two trying to pull off on me this time?"

"I haven't done anything, Jude is at basketball training and despite what you might think we aren't constantly conspiring against you" they both smiled at that "I just need you to take me to buy some new clothes"

"YOU" she said pointing to her fidgeting son "Want ME" she then pointed to herself "To take you shopping?" she had been waiting for this moment for a very long time

"YES MUM" he said as he looked behind himself to make sure that his dad and brother weren't behind him so that he could deny it if his mother decided to tell either of them "Will you do it?"

"Of course" she said as she took off her apron and gloves and placed them on a near by table before walking towards the kitchen "Do you mean right now?" Davis nodded before she continued forward and picked up her purse "Davey" she stopped in her tracks only just realising that she hadn't asked a very obvious question "Are you trying to impress a girl?"

"What?" he uncomfortably shifted and tried to avoid her eye contact "No why would you think that?"

"Well not only is your face bright red but you just asked me to take you shopping for new clothes, either you are trying to impress a girl or I need to take you to the hospital"

"Ugh" he grunted as he realised that there was no way of getting out of this one, his mum was one smart cookie "Her name is Ava" Brooke squealed and jumped onto her unsuspecting son in hug form "MUM"

"Sorry baby" she said stepping back and smiling at her son "I'm just so excited"

"Let's not make a big deal of it" he gulped

"Come on kid" she put her hand on his head and ruffled his hair "Let's go shopping"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"This one?" Lydia asked as she stood in her wardrobe and held out a dress for her cousin to inspect and give her opinion on

"Too short" she said as she looked back down into the magazine she was reading as Lydia put the dress back on the hanger and continued her search

"How about this one?"

"Too long" Lydia rolled her eyes as she continued pushing and pulling clothes hangers to reveal different outfits "Hey Lydia"

"YES" she turned pulling down a rack of dresses and falling onto the ground with them

"You haven't asked about me talking to Jude" she said putting the magazine down on her bed

"Yeah" Lydia said still sitting on the floor of her wardrobe, holding up clothes that lay on top of her and then discarding them to the side

"Why not?"

"You'll talk to each other when you are ready" she said as she picked up the last dress on the floor and looked at it with a smile before stepping back into the bedroom and sitting down on her bed with Sawyer

"What if I'm never ready?" Sawyer asked letting out vulnerability that she kept hidden from the outside world

"I know you and I know Jude and I know team Jawyer," she laughed and then saw the look on her cousin's face "You'll know when you are ready to talk to Jude again and he will not hesitate in talking back"

"You reckon?" Lydia nodded and stroked her cheek

"How about this one?" Lydia held up the dress the sat in her lap

"Just right"

"Thankyou Goldie-locks" she said with a laugh

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Are we sure that people are actually coming?" Lydia asked as she sat on the edge of her parents bathtub watching as Davis fussed about his clothes

"That was Sawyer's job wasn't it?" Davis asked

"And she did a very good job of it" Sawyer said walking into the room with two red cups "Drink this" she said as she passed one to Davis and one to Lydia

"No one is here"

"You really don't know party etiquette, no one shows up on time." She looked Davis up and down "Wow! Ava isn't going to know what hit her"

"That's if she even shows up"

"Ha-ha" Sawyer mocked as the doorbell went off downstairs "Go turn the music on people are arriving" she said with a skip in her step as she walked out of the bathroom with Lydia and Davis behind her

"You know it doesn't count if its Logan or Jude"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"I told you people would come," she said passing Lydia another cup as the room around them vibrated with sound from the music and chatter

"Except the one person that I wanted to come" Davis moped

"Aren't we good enough for you Davis?" Sawyer mocked

"We are considerate enough to cut you out of your pants and you cant even party with us" Lydia continued as her two amigos laughed back at her

"Looks like those scissors have had a work out these last few days" Logan said walking past brushing past Sawyer's hair with the hand that wasn't holding the beer

"Hey" Lydia said as she tapped Davis' arm and pointed to the entranceway "Looks like she showed up after all" she smiled as Davis walked off to the other side of the room to join Ava

"Could be the start of a beautiful relationship?" Lydia nodded "I think so too" Sawyer said before turning to face Lydia as she downed another drink "Whoa girl, I'm not holding your hair back if you get sick"

"I'm fine, it's not affecting me at all," Sawyer laughed as Lydia grabbed Jude's bicep "Hey babe"

"Did she just call me babe?" he asked turning to Sawyer who he had briefly forgotten wasn't talking to him, she indicated that she had been drinking, clearly also forgetting that she wasn't supposed to be talking to him "Come dance with me" she smiled

"Nope"

"Don't you want to be with me anymore?" Sawyer laughed

"Of course I do. But I don't dance" if she hadn't of been even slightly inebriated she may have noticed the hint of embarrassment in her boyfriends tone

"What do you mean you don't dance?" she said squinting her eyes in a Lucas Scott fashion

"I just don't. Davis can, why don't you ask Davis?"

"Because he's got a girlfriend and he will be dancing all his dances with her now"

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint," he said with a smile before kissing her forehead, squirming out of her grip and walking towards the patio doors to join some of the basketball team

"Come on Lydsi we can groove together baby" Sawyer said as she took the red cup out of her cousins hand and took her forearm as she walked towards the designated dance floor "Oh my god"

"I know! I love this song too," Lydia said as Sawyer re-directed them towards the kitchen

"Who invited him?" Sawyer felt herself get all sweaty and nervous

"Who invited who?" Lydia who had somehow managed to get another cup of punch asked curiously

"Marcus" she said physically turning Lydia's head to the smug blonde boy in the corner of the room

"Who invited him?"

"That's what I'm trying to establish," she said as she hunched herself over and used her cousin as a human shield, something that failed when Lydia moved "Where are you going?" she hoarsely whispered

"I'm going to ask Jude why Marcus is here" she whispered back "Just stay there and act casual"

"Just act casual" she scoffed before it became her mantra, he was making his way into her domain and it was making her more and more unsteady, she turned around and placed her hands onto the bench top hoping that he wouldn't recognise her. She realised that that plan had failed miserably when he placed his two hands on either side of her and pushed his body against hers

"Hey Sawyer" he whispered into her ear, rather than let him intimidate her she turned around so she was face to face with him

"Go get your rocks off somewhere else Marcus" she said pushing him back

"Just know that when I do I'll be thinking of you," he said stepping back from her with a smug smile and as he turned to leave he turned back "I like your new haircut! Nothing screams angst about being broken up with like a radical change in appearance" he scoffed "If you want me back that badly Sawyer you don't have to beg"

"I would rather die"

"You know what your problem is Sawyer you're a prude, you'll be running back to me the instant you realise that good looks and laughs will only get you so far"

"Hey Sawyer great party" a male who she would later identify to be Noah or number 32 as her father more affectionately called him, smiled over to her, clearly oblivious to the awkward altercation going on between the two people in front of him. She didn't know what overcome her, maybe it was the fact that Marcus had called her a prude, maybe she was trying to get back at him or maybe it was the fact that she was slightly buzzing from the drinks but she took his interruption at as a sign, grabbed his arm before he could leave and launched herself at his face, their lips interlocking and whilst she could hear Marcus grunting meaning that she had well and truly made her point, she was surprised that she seemingly couldn't stop kissing this boy that stood in front of her, what was more surprising was that he wasn't stopping either.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Jude" Lydia said as she rushed out to find him, she was an independent woman and her boyfriend certainly couldn't fight any fights that she couldn't but right now she wasn't going to lie to herself she was feeling way past tipsy, in fact she was kind of surprised that she hadn't fallen over yet

"Lydia" she did love how he smiled when he saw her, she hoped that that wouldn't go away in time "What's up?" he said holding out his hand for her to grab onto, she didn't know if it was because he could tell she was drunk or if it was some form of intimacy but she didn't have time to analyse it

"Umm just out of curiosity did you invite Marcus?"

"What? No of course not" he said separating himself from the group of friends he was standing with

"But you invited the team?"

"Yeah but I made it pretty clear that he wasn't supposed to know about this party"

"Hypothetically is there any chance that someone invited him anyway?"

"I suppose its possible," he said before coming to a sudden realisation "Why?"

"Well he is sort of kind of here" she watched as a look of panic appeared across his face

"Is Sawyer okay?" he said before making his way up the path as though he had completed the second half of that conversation by himself. Jude walked into the party and scanned the room for the blonde hair, it would have helped if she hadn't of cut it all off before the party "Hey Noah" he said putting a hand on his friend from the teams shoulder, the tall brunette boy turned around this look of perplexity all over his face "Have you seen Marcus?"

"I think he left" he mindlessly responded with his eyebrows burrowed as Jude sighed in relief

"Have you seen Sawyer?" this time the boy didn't even respond he just pointed towards the staircase and Jude quickly took off, even though he and Sawyer were far from close at the moment he still felt that it was his duty to make sure she was okay, he made a note to check up on Noah later because he seemed a bit odd. Sawyer sat at the top of the stairs a perplexed look lay across her face as well, she barely noticed as Jude sat down beside her "You okay?" she jumped at the sound of his voice

"Yeah" she gulped as he softly smiled at her and went to stand up "Hey Jude" she said extending an arm and willing him to stay for just a moment longer "I'm sorry" she looked up at him half smiling as her eyes filled up with tears

"You don't…."

"No let me talk" she silenced him "You didn't deserve any of the stuff that I threw at you on that vacation, it wasn't fair. At the time it felt like I was fighting the right battle and that's why I turned into this colossal bitch that blabbed everyone's secrets and called you jealous and selfish when in all truth I was the jealous and selfish one. I should have known that you were just looking out for my best interests, you always have. But I was so wrapped up in my lust bubble that I couldn't see clearly and then my pride just wouldn't let me talk to you. And then after the whole Marcus thing I guess that it was embarrassment that stopped me from talking to you" she looked up, looking at his puppy face was only making her eyes water more "I was the one that nearly ripped our whole friendship group apart"

"You didn't," he said placing a hand on her knee

"Oh I so did! I wasn't talking to you, Davis wasn't talking to me and you and Lydia nearly broke up all because of my reaction to something that you predicted that ended up coming so true. How do you thank someone for something when you were so outraged that they had said the thing you are thankful for from the very start?" she looked back down at him "Can we please talk again?"

"I was ready to talk five minutes after it happened," he said with a laugh as she leant forward and hugged him

"Thank goodness! Do you know how hard it is to not talk to you?"

"I know how hard it is to not talk to you" he shrugged his shoulders "I like your hair"

"I needed a change" she smiled "Come on" she said standing up and extending her hand out to help him get up as well "We better go and check on your girlfriend" she said as they walked down the stairs, Noah looked at Sawyer and awkwardly smiled

"What's going on with Noah?" he said as they took the last step into the living room aka the party zone

"That's a story for another day" Sawyer let out a laugh "I think we need to be concerned about that first" she pointed to Lydia and Davis dancing like lunatics in the middle of the room

"Rock, paper, scissors who has to take care of them tonight?" he said holding out his hand

"You're totally on"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Do you think she likes me?" he asked as he clutched a pillow to himself as he stared at the roof

"She totally likes you" Lydia responded over her trying to sleep cousin to Davis who lay on the other side of Sawyer

"Shhhhh Lydia she might hear you" Davis whispered outraged as he sat upright in the bed

"Nerd-burger she left an hour ago" Jude groaned from his position on the mattress next to Lydia's bed

"Oh yeah" Davis smiled before throwing himself back down on the mattress and fidgeting "So you think she liked me"

"Yes Davis she liked you!" Sawyer snapped "I'm sure she will like you just as much in the morning" Jude quietly laughed as the room turned silent

"I think I'm going to text her," Davis said sitting upright again

"NO!" all three of the teens yelled, although Lydia's response was slightly delayed

"That's seriously not a good idea buddy" Jude said preparing to pounce on his brother if he attempted to send the text as Davis incompetently searched the bed and then the bedside table. Jude watched as Davis' hands hovered over the phone and groaned before Davis accidently pushed it off the small table and into Jude's hands

"Give it to me Jude" Davis said "I'm going to get it from you whether it's the easy or the hard way is up to you" he said before practically falling out of bed and onto his brother causing both of the girls in the bed to laugh, despite this clear advantage Davis still couldn't manage to free his phone from the grips of his brother

"You will thank me for this tomorrow" he said as Davis seemingly gave up

"THEY HAVE A HOUSE PHONE" he yelped with joy as he attempted to stand up off the mattress, failing a couple of times before finally standing up and walking towards the door, silence then again blanketed the room

"Are you okay?" Sawyer asked sitting up in the bed, trying to sleep was useless at this point

"I don't know how to open the door" was all he said before he erupted in manic laughter "I'M FREE SUCKERS"

"Hey Davis get me a snack while you are out there" Lydia said as she threw back the duvet the small amount of light let in by the open door allowed for Sawyer and Jude to look at each other and laugh

"I'll make you a sandwich," he said walking out of the room

"Wrong way dude" Sawyer yelled out before Davis walked past the door again "I'll go with him and make sure he doesn't fall down the stairs" the absence of Sawyer and Davis made the room quiet again

"Jude" she said as she propped herself up onto her side

"Lydia" he responded

"JUDE!" she practically yelled as though she hadn't already got his attention

"Yes Lydia" he responded with a coy smile on his face

"I just can't believe that you can dance"

"That's good because I cant" he said making use of her sentences error

"I mean can't dance, I can't believe that you can't dance. It doesn't make any sense" her words laced with bewilderment

"It's a medical marvel" the room became full of rustling and grunting, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to show you how to dance"

" .no!"

"It's something that you need to know" she stated strongly as she got out of bed and attempted to find his mattress on the floor, smiling at the assumption that her superior sense of balance had outwitted the alcohol coursing through her veins coincidently just as she loses balance "Whoa"

"Are you okay?" Jude asked as he moved to where she was sitting on the end of his mattress

"I feel a bit dizzy. I might just lie down here for a minute" Jude laughed before moving backwards and letting her crawl into the bed. Lydia rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her "Hey Jude"

"I'm right here Lydia," he said with his eyes closed as she fidgeted and he held onto her tighter

"I'm not just saying this because I'm wasted, because I'm not wasted I'm completely sober" Jude laughed "No I am, ask me anything"

"I believe you" he smiled

"No! Ask me anything" she insisted as he sighed

"Okay then what is your phone number?" he didn't need to know the answer to any question to know that Lydia was going to be waking up not feeling so good tomorrow

"Easy!" she exclaimed gleefully "It's 555-2…" He tried not to laugh at her extended pause "Now I can't remember what comes after the two but I'm nearly seventy two per cent sure that it is another number" Lydia grumbled, "Now where was I?"

"You weren't just saying something because you were wasted"

"Right! I'm not just saying something because I'm wasted because I'm not but I love you Jude Baker. I really. Truly. Do! Now I'm going to rest my eyes" he waited a moment till he knew that she was fast asleep before responding because he knew that he didn't have alcohol to fall back on if he had to in the morning

"I love you Lydia Bob Scott" Jude kissed the back of her head before the loud crash downstairs jolted her awake again, Jude kissed her again before wrapping her tightly in his blankets and excusing himself to find out what his twin brother had done

"DAVIS!" Sawyer yelled clearly exasperated as she leant down to pick up the sandwich that he had just thrown onto the floor

"What did he do?" Jude asked with a yawn as he made his way over to the kitchen as she indicated to the mess on the floor "Why?"

"He didn't like that the ham was touching the cheese" Jude scoffed and then leant down to help her

"I'M JUST SO HAPPY" Davis yelled as he ran into the room and both Sawyer and Jude looked up at him

"DAVIS! Put your clothes back on" he said as his brother ran around in nothing but his underwear and as Sawyer put her hand onto Jude's shoulder to steady herself from the laughter before failing and falling onto the ground

"You guys are amateur at being drunk," Logan said at the bottom of the stairs as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Lydia your phone is ringing" Sawyer said to her near comatose friend who lay on the couch, the only response she received was a groan "It'll be your mum and dad" another retort was grumbled "You know they will suspect something if that phone isn't answered" as the phone rang one last time Sawyer jumped for it and answered "Hello Lydia's phone"

"_Hey Sawyer" _her aunties voice flowed through the receiver _"Where is Lydia?" _

"She is sleeping"

"_She is still asleep?" _

"Yeah we had a pretty late night last night" Lydia jolted upright and gave her cousin a quizzing look as though her cousin may have forgotten that there was a no talking about the party policy strongly in place "You know watching movies and stuff" once Lydia was satisfied that the cover was not blown she lay back down on the couch, throwing her arm over the side causing the boy on the floor to groan

"_It's pretty odd that she is still asleep, is she feeling okay?" _

"No she is fine" Sawyer lied through her teeth as she looked at her incredibly pale cousin who looked at her and then darted up the hallway to the toilet, Jude following behind her "You know how lazy she can be sometimes when she knows that she can be. I think we are all a bit like that sometimes"

"_Very true" _Haley laughed _"Well I'll let you get back to it Sawyer, I just wanted to let you know that we will be leaving Deb's in just over an hour so we should get home at late afternoon some point"_

"Okay Aunty Hales, I'll let Lydia know when she wakes up"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia sat straddling the toilet bowl with Jude sitting behind her holding up her long brown hair with one hand and patting her back with the other "I'm sorry" she mumbled "It's way too early in our relationship for this"

"Shhhhh Lydia its fine" he smiled "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm feeling good, I'm good" she said turning away from the toilet and around to face him as he sat down on the floor next to her "Did you have fun last night?" he nodded as he smiled adorningly at her "I hope I didn't do anything too embarrassing" she laughed briefly before stopping and holding her head

"Nothing embarrassing at all" he stroked her cheek

"How's the head Fred?" Sawyer asked as she walked into the bathroom and handed her a glass of water

"I am never ever drinking anything that you pass to me again" she looked down at the cup in her hands "Starting from now"

"Your mum called and they are still a couple of hours away and Logan has gone out to get some hangover food" Sawyer said with a smile that Lydia briefly returned before frowning

"I lied"

"What?" Jude asked wondering if she had suddenly remembered what 'sober' Lydia had told him in the early hours of that morning and whether she wanted to take it all back

"I don't feel better" she turned sharply and vomited in the toilet bowl as Sawyer caught her pony tail

"This is going to be a looooong day"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Logan!" Jamie smiled as he stepped out of his car and walked towards the front door of the family home "What are you doing here man?"

"Jamie" he said as he gave the older boy a hug "Your mum and dad called and told me that they were out of town and that I should come and stay with Lydia. What are you doing here?"

"Ran out of laundry liquid and Lily isn't home" he laughed

"You do know that you can buy that at the supermarket that is not even a five minute drive from your place in Charleston opposed to driving all the way back to Tree Hill right?"

"I know but I wanted to check in on my kid sister" he laughed "Speaking of shopping what's with all the bags? Are you trying to feed a tribe? Or is everyone around here for Sunday night dinner again?"

"Well your kid sister and her friends may have thrown a party last night and your sister may or may not be nursing her first ever hangover"

"No way!" Jamie exclaimed as his cousin smiled and nodded at him "Oh man I have to see this" he said as he opened the front door and walked in "LYDIA BOB SCOTT" he bellowed as he put on his best stern older brother voice "LYDIA BOB SCOTT WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" he stormed into the kitchen and living area, trying not to laugh as he spotted Davis Baker who promptly but slowly excused himself from the room

"Please use your inside voice" she mumbled as she squinted her eyes, holding herself up by leaning on the couch

"You had a party here last night didn't you?" she paused unable to comprehend how to answer that question "Forget it" he said stepping forwards "Have you been drinking?" he asked her with a quirked eyebrow, as she looked down at the ground "Have you?" he asked more persistently

"Yes"

"LYDIA GOD!" he said putting a hand up to his forehead

"I don't get why this is such a big deal" she was doing all she could not to cry in front of her brother but she had never seen him like this

"Of course you don't! You are too young" he scoffed "Did that boyfriend of yours put you up to this?"

"What?"

"I just need to know who to point the finger at when dad gets home and realises that you have broken the rules"

"You are going to tell dad?" she asked horrified at the thought as Jamie nodded

"So was it Jude then?" he asked again

"NO!" she yelled back at him "It wasn't Jude, it wasn't anyone! It was me!"

"Are you telling me that you instigated this party? That these rubbish bags" he kicked one for effect "Are here because of you? That hangover you are nursing is completely of your own accord?"

"YES! I told Sawyer that we could have a party; I said it was okay to break the rules. I was the one that drank too many cups of fruit punch to remember! It's my fault it's all my fault"

"High five little sister!" he said with the massive goofy smile that she knew and loved

X-x-x-x-x-x

"So…" Quinn stood next to Haley at Karen's Café where the large extended Tree Hill family were meeting for their weekly dinner "How was Deb?"

"Deb was good! I think she might come up and stay with us for a couple of nights soon"

"That's good" she leant back on the bench "And was the house still standing when you got home?" she cringed at the answer hoping that her niece had managed to hide any evidence of the party that they had had the night before.

"It was spotless" Haley smiled "She is a good kid that one"

"She sure is" Quinn said as she walked over to her husband

"Hey Ma" Jamie said as he took over Quinn's spot next to his mother

"Jimmy Jam" she said looking up at her tall son "Have I told you how glad I am that you came home?"

"Only about one hundred times on the phone and that was before I had even arrived in Tree Hill"

"I just figured that your sister might need some reinforcements" Haley got up on her tippy-toes and kissed her eldest son on the cheek before walking away as Jamie looked over to the small group of shenanigan making friends who sat in the corner, somehow hiding the two hung-over members of the group well.

"Can you remember that wicked party we threw that year that you graduated from Tree Hill high?" Logan asked with a cheeky grin

"As if I could forget! That's the night that I got…." Words were not needed to finish the sentence, Logan immediately recognised what Jamie was talking about and laughed

"Wild party" they both leant backwards and reminisced

"Don't talk about it to loudly though!" Jamie looked around shifty eyed "My mum and dad still don't know about it"

"How did you explain the..."

"I think I blamed it on the twins" he laughed as he put the beer bottle up to his lips and took a drink, Jude walked towards them and winked before veering off and heading for his mum

"Hey baby boy" she said bringing him in for a hug "I'm not going to lie, It's great seeing all four of you together again and happy"

"Yeah" he was a man of little words but his slight smile was an indicator that he agreed with her

"Can I ask you something without it being assumed that I am a nosey and overbearing parent?" he laughed "What's Davis' Ava like?"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey girls" Peyton said as she came over with Lucas and sat across from her daughter and her niece

"Hey mama" she grinned back as Peyton and Lucas both looked intently at Lydia "She is sleeping" Peyton and Lucas looked at each other shook their heads and turned back to her

"I'm loving the new hair"

"It's very Peyton Sawyer senior year" Lucas quipped "You are lucky we liked it or we might have never let you go over to Lydia's ever again"

"Not even you oh mighty one have that power" Sawyer laughed "Is Reese gone?"

"We cleaned the couch" Peyton's smile unsettled Sawyer

"So he is gone?"

"Not exactly" her dad said turning to the small crowd and alerting his daughter to the mans presence as he made eye contact with them and walked forwards "It turns out that his masseuse was also his landlord and he currently doesn't have anywhere to stay"

"Sawyer isn't it," he asked as he sat down next to her "Guess we are going to be housemates for awhile"

**To be continued **

**Authors Note** : Let me know what you think xx


	18. Chapter 18

When we were young – Chapter eighteen

Sawyer swept the blonde curls off her sweaty forehead, she wished she had of cut it at a length that she would've been able to tie up, looking at the door anxiously as she methodically put one foot in front of the other on the treadmill, a smirk on her face as her eyes gazed around the gym, as she continued the sweep of the gym she noticed the brown haired girl bounce towards her with a smile on her face.

"You rang?" Lydia said as she stood at the front of the treadmill

"And you brought Davis?" she said with her fathers famous squint "I sent out a perv page and you brought Davis, never mind just try and look inconspicuous" she laughed as Davis and Lydia headed towards the two free machines on the left of Sawyer "He is wearing Jeans" she laughed as she looked past Lydia to Davis

"He was with me when you texted"

"He sure was and He really wants to know what this perv page thing is?" Davis smiled quizzically

"It's simple" she said pressing a button on the machine and fastening her pace "Whenever one of us is out and has a hot guy in our line of vision it is required that we send each other a text so the other one has the opportunity to feast upon the amazingness and eye pleasure. We then score the guy and then at the end of the month we add up the scores and see who won"

"You two are creepy," he muttered as Lydia gave him a death stare and then turned back to Sawyer

"So where is he?" they both walked in time with each other as Sawyer pointed to the gym employee with the chiselled jaw, short navy blue shorts and monogramed polo t-shirt

"Oh wow you did good" Lydia said briefly loosing her footing "But I just don't feel like I can give him adequate points, we cant really see what he can do"

"I'm on it" Sawyer said as she pressed the stop button, jumped off the machine and walked towards him "Hi" batting her eyelashes as he turned to face her "Tim" she smiled looking down at his name tag "I was just wondering if you could please demonstrate how to use this machine" she draped her arm across the weights machine "I just really think I need to add a more strength based approach to my workout rather than just sticking to the cardio aspects"

"Hi" he left the space open for her to fill the blank space

"Sawyer" she laughed

"Sawyer" he smiled coyly "It's your lucky day, I am the in-house expert of this machine" he winked

"Wow she is good" Lydia observed as Tim flexed and showed off his impressive biceps "I want to run my fingers down his chest"

"You can't even see his chest, how do you know he isn't harbouring a cheeky beer gut under that very feminine polo shirt?"

"Someone that man-scaped isn't harbouring anything under that shirt that isn't perfection"

"You do know that you aren't single right, in fact you are dating my brother" a few moments of silence went past before Davis broke that silence "Hey…"

"Yes Davis, Sawyer and I have rated both you and Jude and no I am not going to tell you those results" she said smiling at her best friend and pressing the stop button on her own machine

"Where are you going?" she shrugged her shoulders "Oh right" he came to a sudden realisation "Are you going to question him about his right to bare arms?" Lydia scoffed, turned up the speed on Davis' machine and then walked towards her cousin "Ha-ha Lydia so funny" he said as she walked forwards "Uh-oh" his voice turned concerned and Lydia couldn't help but smile "It's not turning down! LYDIA"

"What's wrong with Davis?" Sawyer asked, prying herself away from conversation with Tim

"Oh nothing, he is just really enjoying his workout"

"Tim" Sawyer said as she put a hand on his toned and tanned arm "This is my cousin Lydia"

"I see that good looks run in the family" his attention was taken by something over his shoulder "Sorry girls I'll have to leave you from there, my manager is practically breathing down my neck but it was great to meet you"

"Bye Tim" Sawyer continued to flirt

"Oh Sawyer…." He momentarily turned back

"I'll leave my number at the front desk" she smiled before turning to face Lydia "So what do you think?"

"He is at least an eight," she said sitting down at the machine that Tim had just vacated with no intention of use "He seems pretty into you"

"What can I say Lydia, It's the Scott charm" Sawyer said as a sweaty jean-clad Davis made his way over

"Jude said that Noah is still blushing every time you walk into a room" Sawyer tried to hide her smile and act casual "Are you and Noah going to get together or is Tim the guy for you?"

"I really like Noah, he is a sweet guy but when I kissed him at the party it was purely for decoy purposes"

"So Tim?" Lydia burrowed her eyebrows trying to wrap her head around her cousin's complicated love life

"Look Lydia I'm not looking for anything serious, I'm just embracing being young and having some fun."

Davis noticed the lull in conversation and interjected "So Sawyer what was my rating?"

"Forget it Davis, We aren't going to tell you" she said with a smile as she headed towards the front desk and picked up the piece of paper that Tim had sprawled his phone number onto

X-x-x-x-x-x

Sawyer opened the front door of her house and walked up towards the kitchen, she took note of the silence and assumed that her family was out however as she threw her bag onto the ground a grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl a loud yell came from across the hallway followed by "CRAP" Sawyer smiled as she took a bite of her apple and took long strides towards the yelling that she would later identify was coming from the laundry and the mouth of her petite mother

"Did the washing machine eat a sock again?" she said leaning against the door frame, Peyton looked up letting the presence of her daughter interject before turning back to her fiasco

"IT'S. NOT. WORKING" she said slamming the door of the washing machine with each word as Sawyer tried not to laugh "I'm going to have to call a repair man, and he probably wont be able to get here till tomorrow and I think your dad has run out of clean t-shirts"

"So umm…. I guess it's a bad time to tell you that my cheer uniform is dirty and I need to wear it tomorrow?" she said as her mother looked up at her and looked straight forward, taking out a moment to think of a solution

"I'VE GOT IT" she said pulling the clothes out of the washing machine "pick up that pile of laundry Sawyer and come with me"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Davis laid on the balcony his hands behind his head and his sunglasses over his closed eyes, lapping in the sunshine with a smirk quipping at the edge of his lips. He supposed that he should probably be concerned about the sudden luminous shadow that interrupted the small flash of sunshine that had managed to sneak into his vision, he thought nothing of it until someone hit him on the forehead, causing him to sit upwards, fast and whack his head on something else hard.

"OW. GOD. DAVIS" he instantly recognised it as his brothers voice, he opened his eyes and rubbed his forehead in a similar fashion to the way Jude was rubbing his

"Don't blame me, you hit me you idiot" he said as Jude shifted and sat on the edge of the balcony and Davis knew something was going on, this instinct was something that made him let go of the possible forehead bruises his brother had just caused "What?" no time for niceties, not that they were used to niceties at all really

"I need to talk to you about something"

"Yeah I got that" he said squinty in his brothers direction before realising that the sunglasses on his head could probably extinguish the glare a little bit better

"I just don't want to make you uncomfortable" Jude was still cut-up about the whole Lydia situation that he had remained completely oblivious to until it was too late

"I'm assuming that this situation involves Lydia?" turns out his brother wasn't as oblivious, Jude nodded "Tell me about it"

"So you remember the party Lydia had at her house the other night?"

"Are you kidding? I can still taste Sawyer's punch" he laughed

"I kind of sort of told Lydia that I loved her" if Davis had of been drinking water he would have spat it across the deck, probably with enough force to get his brother directly in the face

"You did what? Where was I?" he looked into the distance perplexed

"You were drunk and making a sandwich," Jude laughed at the look of brief recollection on his brother's face

"How did she react?" he was so intent on this new Lydia and Jude chapter

"By the time I said it back she had passed out"

"SAID IT BACK?" he frowned "Did Lydia say it first?"

"Yeah" he smiled at the excitement on his brother's face "But she was pretty drunk at the time, and she didn't mention it in the morning"

"As in the morning when she was puking up her guts?" he laughed "Doubt that she had time"

"Shut up Davis" he laughed back "But don't you think that if she had of meant it that she would have said it? And if she didn't mean it, If I tell her that I do will I freak her out?"

"Oh how the tables have turned" his brothers stern look made it very clear that this was not a joking matter "Lydia is ALL feelings and emotions, drunk or not drunk if she said that she loved you she means it. Can you remember the first time we all got drunk for the first time on like two sips of that horrible orange liquor round the back of TRIC at Jamie's twenty-first and Lydia told me that she didn't like my haircut?" Jude nodded, not really getting the point "Well she still meant that in the morning"

"Not the same thing" he stated after a moment on contemplation

"Ok" Davis took a moment to gather his thoughts "Look Jude, I have no doubt that Lydia loves you, but even if she doesn't, do you really want to hold onto that information? How do you know that she wasn't really as drunk as you thought she was" they both scoffed "Maybe she heard you confess your love for her and then YOU didn't say it in the morning and she freaked out that all the puking had turned you off and that you don't love her anymore" that was it Jude was officially freaked

"Oh crap, what do I do Davis? WHAT. DO. I. DO?"

"First of all Calm your farm, stop hyperventilating and then you plan a time to meet up with Lydia and tell her ASAP"

"I was going to take her out tonight, can I do it then?" Davis nodded "Okay now tell me something to take my mind off it all please"

"Did you know that Sawyer and Lydia have a perving structure in place and rate guys based on their attractiveness?" Jude raised an eyebrow "They have even rated us"

"Who got the higher score?"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What is this place?" Sawyer asked lugging in a heavy bag of laundry

"Please tell me that I raised you right and that you are just joking with me right now, cause otherwise your father and I have done wrong by you and your siblings"

"Of course I know what this is" her mother gave her a look "It's the place where all the missing socks go" she laughed as her mother scoffed at her

"Pass me the washing bag you idiot" she kissed her daughters cheek as she lay the bag next to the empty machine at the Laundromat

"This seems like a great place to pick up dudes" Sawyer said as she jumped up on an unoccupied machine as her mother who was sorting through their piles of laundry, threw her head back in laughter

"Your dad would kill you if he heard you say that" she said turning her head to face her daughter

"So when is that Adam guy leaving?"

"I don't like that those two sentences were so close together" she could feel her daughters glare "I'm not sure" Peyton sighed "Your dad is just too nice for his own good sometimes"

"Sawyer" a voice bellowed, causing both of the blonde women to turn. It was Noah carrying a washing basket and a massive smile, one that was matched by her mother

"Noah" Sawyer said as she jumped off of the washing machine

"Noah?" Peyton raised her eyebrows as her daughter shot a demanding look at her

"I didn't picture you as a Laundromat man" she smiled

"Well It just so happens to be a great way to pick up the ladies" he winked at her and she winced, knowing full well that her mothers exaggerated laughter was directed towards her

"Can I give you a tip?" she asked taking a moment to look down at his basket, he nodded "In order to not look desperate you are probably better off actually bringing some form of laundry" he looked at her bewildered before realising and laughing which lead to a bewildered look on Sawyer's behalf

"I didn't realise how odd that would look" he said walking over to a nearby machine, for some reason Sawyer followed "I'm here to pick up"

"We've already established that" she smirked

"I mean my laundry, mum dropped it off an hour ago and now I am picking it up for her" she watched as he grabbed the clean clothes out of the dryer, laughing as his batman underpants landed on top of the pile and he fidgeted to cover them "Well Sawyer Scott" he said hugging the washing basket to his hip "It's great to see you again" for a brief moment he seemed almost nervous "I'll see you around" he said with a wave over his shoulder to her mother before walking out of the Laundromat

"Who was that?" Peyton said practically sitting on Sawyer's shoulder

"It really didn't take you long"

"Tell me who it was" Peyton said with an air of giddiness about her

"That is Noah, he is on the basketball team" her phone vibrated, interrupting her mid sentence "It's not that I'm not enjoying this form of questioning, I totally am" she added sarcastically "But this is the guy from the gym who is probably calling to ask me out on a date"

"Good luck with that" she said as Sawyer answered the phone and walked away from her mother, Peyton knew full well that their eldest daughter was going to have a hard time convincing her father to let her out with another boy, especially since last time it had ended so disastrously "I guess that my daughter is pretty sought after" she mocked

X-x-x-x-x-x

Lydia was immersed in her own sense of aloneness, lying on her bed, completely zoned out. Only drawn out by his voice, which had immediately produced a smile "So you and Sawyer have rated me?"

"Well it didn't take long for Davis to get that information back to you" she said sitting up and walking over to him, he grabbed her hips and dragged her towards him, applying pressure to her lips, he could feel the smile, for a brief moment after the kiss ended they stood face to face, only their noses touching. Lydia stepped forward in an attempt to shut the door, but as soon as it was shut it was thrown open, leaving Lydia more than a little unbalanced and facing her very protective father. Nathan didn't say anything, did not make one single noise, he just gave a stern look to his daughter and then gave a more drawn out and more terrifying version to the boy behind her, who had removed every single form of contact he had been holding onto. Just as quickly as he appeared, Nathan disappeared and Lydia turned around to her boyfriend, trying somewhat to hide the embarrassment that her father had just instilled, something that she would be bringing up with him just as soon as Jude left. "I guess that we wont be closing the door then" she said grabbing Jude's hand and walking him over to her bed, where they both sat down and looked at each other "So what are you doing here?" she smiled

"What? Can't a very attentive boyfriend come and visit his gorgeous girlfriend?" she looked at him "What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing" she said with such glee "I shouldn't have said that like that" Lydia laughed, "What are we doing?"

"It's a surprise"

"How will I know where to go?"

"Meet me at the river court at seven" he said leaning forward and giving her another kiss

X-x-x-x-x-x-x

"You want to go on a date?" her fathers facial features noticeably tightened at the concept, causing Sawyer to gulp

"I wouldn't call it a date" her mind was scrambling

"What would you call it then?" Lucas asked switching his body weight to his other leg and pretending to be casual, resisting the urge to throw his eldest daughter into a long-term grounding until he deemed he would be ready to see her enter the land of dating again

"Look, I just really want to go to this movie and it's so tragic to go alone. This guy is just a decoy, I'm more interested in the buttered popcorn then the prospect of having to talk with him" she lied and she knew that her father knew it

"And why can't you take Lydia to see this movie with you? She loves popcorn"

"I tried to convince her but she isn't really a Rom-Com girl" she lied again as her dad arched his eyebrows up at her "You know Lydia, all about the Action-Horror genre that girl is" she gulped again and tried not to laugh "Dad" she said making her way towards him "I know this isn't something that you like the idea of and I completely understand why after my last dating experience, but do you really want that to be my only experience?" she watched him as he silently considered it, this was not something that he would ever admit too "Do you want me to become bitter?"

"She makes a good point Luke" Adam interjected, whilst they both had seemingly forgotten that he had been sitting in the kitchen when this conversation had started, it only took a moment for them both to give him a dirty look

"Ugh" Lucas sighed "Fine Sawyer, but this time you are going to follow my rules and if you don't, I wont hesitated to make your life a living hell and you know I can"

"Thank you daddy" she said with her usual sweet smile as she flung herself at him

"You are welcome" he said before kissing her forehead and walking out of the kitchen. Sawyer picked up her phone, meticulously pressing the keypad in order to confirm her evening plans, when she realised that Adam's eyes were glaring at her

"What?"

"What time is this movie that you are going to?"

"Seven fifty" she looked back down at her phone and then back up at him curiously "Why?"

"I am a bit of a Rom-Com man myself, there is nothing that I like more than the dream pairing, the flirting, the eventual get together, someone finding out that the other one has done something less than desirable, which leads to the brief moment of that fear that your one-true-pairing isn't going to come true and then low and behold they make it past the hard times a stronger couple and realise that despite their differences they were made for each other"

"Are you kidding?" she asked, a small smile in the corner of her mouth as he shook him head and her face went serious "Wait are you contemplating crashing my date?"

"I thought that it wasn't a date"

"First you move into our guest room, then you steal the last toaster pastry from the box this morning, then you make my mum and I do your 'delicates' and now you want to crash my date with this really cute guy from the gym? Aren't we already a little too close for comfort"

"I thought that is wasn't a date" he smirked

"You can's come with me tonight" she said walking out of the kitchen

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Jude" she cooed as she stepped onto the river court and took in what her boyfriend had set up for her, he turned around startled and jumped up

"Your early" he said with a frown "I'm not done setting up yet"

"Well if you want I can leave and come back later" she said with a smile as she turned around, he chased after her and wrapped an arm around her middle, twirling her into his arms

"You aren't going anywhere" he said with a smile as Lydia Bob Scott laughed, she untwisted and walked towards where Jude Baker had been squatting when she had arrived

"What do we have here?" she asked with a smile

"A picnic" he smiled proudly "I know that the river court isn't really that romantic, but I thought that we could have dinner and watch the sun go down and then maybe I can beat you in a game of basketball before I take you home" she stepped back and intertwined her arm behind his back

"It sounds very romantic"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Wow, two times in one day" a voice came from behind Sawyer who was standing and waiting for Tim to come back from the candy bar so that they could go into the movie theatre, Sawyer jumped before turning around to face the person that the voice belonged to

"Noah! Hi. What are you doing here?" whilst she couldn't help but smile, however his presence was unsettling

"It's experimental fondue night at my house tonight, so my sister and I decided to get out of the house and come to the movies" at this point Sawyer noticed the petite girl smiling up at her, she shared similar facial characteristics to her older brother, Sawyer assumed that Noah's sister was a similar age to her brother Leo "We left somewhere between the plugging in of the fondue machine, the arrival of the neighbours and the blaring of the smoke alarm" Noah laughed, stirring yet another smile out of Sawyer, what was going on with her, wasn't Noah supposed to be the decoy? "You?" he asked

"A friend and I are just here to see a movie" Sawyer smiled as her eyes drifted towards the man making strides towards her and the small group that she had managed to attract around her

"Is that him?" The younger girl quipped, "He is smoking hot" out of the corner of her eye Sawyer thought that she could see Noah tense

"Hey! I got you some popcorn babe" Tim said as he approached the group, he had swapped the gym shorts that he had been in early that day for a pair of jeans and the polo shirt for a loose grey t-shirt "Who are you friends?" he clearly wasn't fazed by their presence, she guessed at that moment that her new friend Tim knew he was smoking hot

"Oh! This is Noah and his little sister…" she realised that she hadn't asked the girls name when they had approached her

"Emmi" the younger girl leant forward and gave him her hand, she was very forward, so forward that for a moment Sawyer and Noah shared an amused look

"Noah and I go to school together" she gulped, hoping that their brief kiss wasn't showing up all over her face just as the usher made it to the front of the movie theatre and people started moving towards the doors "We better head in"

"Should we all sit together?" Emmi asked with a smile

"Come on Em, we don't want to wreck Sawyer's date" Noah said with a smile but Sawyer also detected a bit of disappointment laced in his tone as Emmi looked up at Sawyer with her big beaming eyes

"Of course" Sawyer said not looking at either her date or Noah before walking towards the door.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Davis was lying on his bed reading a comic book when his bedroom door was thrown open "Thanks for the privacy guys" he yelled as he lifted his head to see his mum standing at the open door

"Phone call for you" she said as he looked at her confused, he only really got calls from two people, from Lydia who was on a date with his brother and Sawyer who was also on a date, the fact that he was the only one in his group without a date was uber depressing "It's a girl" Brooke smiled as her son jumped up as quickly as she had ever seen him, briefly tripping over his own feet before taking the phone off of his mother, kissing her cheek and then shutting the door on her

"Hello" he hoped that it didn't come out as nervous as he was feeling at that very minute, the line remained silent "Hey" more silence, Davis was considering hanging up, ruling the phone call off as some practical joke

"Davis?" she said into the phone "Are you there?"

"This is Davis" he gulped, he knew who the voice would belong to, or at least he had hopes, he couldn't exactly imagine any other ladies having his number and making the choice to call him "Ava?"

"Yes" she sounded pleased that he had recognised her "I didn't know if I had the right number"

"Not to sound rude or like I don't appreciate the call, because I REALLY do, but how did you get this number?" he knew that if his brother was here right now he would be frowning at him and reminding him to never ever ask a girl that

"I hope you don't mind Sawyer gave it to me"

"I don't mind at all, I just wanted to know who to send the thankyou card too" the door to his bedroom opened and his dads head popped in, Davis watched as his dad gave him the thumbs up for the swift pick-up line that he had just administered

"Are these the pick-up lines that you bragged about that first time we met at the sparkle classic?" she laughed

"I wouldn't say I bragged" it wasn't humanly possible for his grin to get any bigger at this point in time

"Anyway" she said as conversation lulled, mainly in the essence that Davis was too nervous to say anything at this point in time "You never texted me"

"What?" he asked completely oblivious to what this mesmerising girl was talking about?

"I don't mean to be so forward, my parents always tell me off for that" she laughed again, a sound that seemed to calm Davis profoundly "But the other night when I saw you at that party, as I was leaving you said you would text me later that night…you never did! What does a girl need to go to get attention from a gorgeous boy like you" Davis felt the blood rush to his cheeks, and despite the fact that she clearly could not see him, he hoped that she wouldn't notice.

"I was pretty drunk that night"

"Oh" he instantly knew that she had taken his last statement the wrong way

"Wait no, no, no! Drunk Davis is forgetful, If I had of remembered I would have sent you a hundred text…well not that many because that is a bit stalker-ish" she laughed again and he calmed down

"I guess we will have to blame Drunk Davis for this one then" she smiled

"Drunk Davis is very sorry, what can Sober Davis do to make it up to you?"

"I think I would settle for a text tomorrow"

"How about this? I will send you a text and take you out next Saturday night. Do we have a deal?"

"I think you've made me an offer that I cannot refuse" she giggled

X-x-x-x-x-x

Sawyer sat in the movie theatre wedged between Tim, her date for the evening, and Noah, who she had kissed only a couple of weeks ago. She stayed as still as she possibly could. As she contemplated the love triangle that would be played out if she was in a TV drama, both of the boys turned to her and offered her popcorn, and as she thought that this moment belonged in a cheesy teen movie, Sawyer reluctantly shook her head, resisting the urge of the artificial butter that she had been craving all afternoon. However this wasn't the end of it, it seemed as though Tim had worked out that this boy wasn't just simply a guy that his date had gone to school with, or this was the thing that he did on every date. Sawyer's back became rigid as Tim did the classic movie yawn move and put his hand upon her shoulder, all she could think was that she was glad that it was dark in the movie theatre. She chose to just enjoy the moment; she got comfy in her chair and starting paying attention to the movie just in time to watch the saddest part. However she was forced to turn when laughter came from behind her, it wasn't that she was that surprised but she was certainly embarrassed when she was faced with Adam, sitting behind her with a box of popcorn sitting on his lap. This night was just getting worse by the minute, at least her dad wasn't there to rip Tim's arm off her shoulder.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Well thanks for taking me out tonight" she said as they walked hand in hand up the driveway of the house "I had a really great time"

"You're only saying that because I let you win when we were playing basketball"

"Let me win?" she said stopping in her tracks

"You heard me" just as he said it, Lydia jumped on his back and got him in a headlock, he struggled for a little bit whilst attempting to steady himself "I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall"

"Take it back," she laughed

"I take it back, it's those Scott genes, and you won! You totally won," he said as she let go and kissed him on the cheek

"Now how do I get down from here?" she inquired as she looked down at the ground

"Ha-Ha you didn't really think this through now did you?"

"Come on help me down"

"I don't think so" he said as she squirmed "I think maybe we should go for a run, don't you think that that would be a good idea?"

"NO" she nearly yelled in his ear as he took off around the back of her house at an impressive speed, considering that he had to carry her weight as well as his own "JUDE!"

"Maybe I'll just drop you in the pool"

"JUUUUUUDE!" she squealed watching as he got closer and closer to the pool "Please"

"Well since you asked so nicely, I guess I wont" he laughed and turned around, heading towards the back of the house

"This still doesn't solve the issue of how I am supposed to get down" with that he delicately grabbed her arm and dragged it towards the other side of his own body, creating a twisting motion, which soon saw Lydia wrapped around Jude's Torso, but unlike before face to face with him. It was a strangely romantic moment between the two; if Sawyer had explained sexual tension correctly then this would be the definition. She eventually stopped clinging to him like a koala bear, springing her legs off him and freefalling for a brief moment, as her feet touched the ground he went to stabilizer her, his hands on her torso and hers around his neck. That look that they were sharing let him know that it was now or never, he had to get this out in the open

"Lydia, I need to talk to you" she let go of his neck and frowned at him

"That doesn't sound good" she nervously laughed

"Well it is good…or it might not be good?"

"Now you are just confusing me, spit it out dummy" some how she had reverted back to a childhood moment when all he wanted was romance

"You know at the party the other night"

"Shhhhh" she whispered sharply "The walls around here have ears"

"The other night I said some things, It was when we were in bed" he whispered that last part, keeping in mind the proximity to Lydia's parents "Can you remember what I said to you?" he asked, he was holding her hand again

"To be honest I can't actually remember much about that night, the later it got the blurrier my recollection gets"

"I thought as much" he smiled, Jude Baker had grown up with Lydia and she couldn't lie, so there was no doubt in his mind that she hadn't heard him at all that night, which stuck him with a chance that she might feel the same way. For a brief moment he thought about just leaving it at that, his nerves were expanding and there would be no harm in not telling her that exact instance, however his baby brother was in the back of his mind and Jude thought to himself that he might as well just go for it

"What did you say?" she asked trying to fill in the silence "Was it that you actually wanted to be a woman?"

"Lydia" the seriousness in her tone stopped her in her tracks "We've been going out for awhile now" she nodded "And the other night when you were teasing me because I couldn't dance and falling asleep in my arms I realised something" he gulped in air as though it was his last breath, in truth it may be one of his last breaths before the moment of truth "I've known you forever, literally. And when you first told me that you liked me, in all honesty I didn't think that it would work, I knew you as the fun-loving little psychopath who always had Davis and I in the palm of your hand, and I was hesitant" he was watching her expression go from confused to sad "I'm rambling, get to the point Jude" he nervously laughed "I was hesitant because it was such a big risk and it was so much of a role change. Looking back at it now…" he watched Lydia suck in a huge breath of air, waiting just waiting for it to be knocked right out of her "I don't know why I was hesitant at all, You are the most beautiful girl that I know, I cherish the time that we spend together and you make me so incredibly happy. Whilst this may come as quite a shock to you, what I realised the other night while you were lying in my arms was that I love you Lydia Bob Scott, with all of my heart"

"What?" she asked completely and totally shell-shocked

"I love you" he smiled but then frowned as he saw her face drop "Whoa, whoa, whoa why are you crying?" he said putting his hand to her face and wiping away a line of tears

"I thought you were going to break up with me" she said as he pulled her in closer and wrapped his arms around her

"I should've got to the point sooner" he said internally kicking himself as she pulled away, he was sure that he had blown his chance

"No! It was perfect," she said as she wiped away a tear "I love you too Jude"

"Are you sure?" he said trying to conceal his smile "You don't have to say because I said it"

"I'm not! I love you" as she launched herself at him, this was exactly how she had imagined it. Sawyer and Lydia used to lie in bed and talk about this very moment, back then it hadn't been Jude that had occupied those plans, usually it was a hunky celebrity or an older boy that went to school with them, however this was perfect. Nothing could make this moment more perfect. The moment that she let her brain think that, the universe sent out a sign, well more accurately her father orchestrated a sign by turning on the sprinklers and soaking the pair of them. "I'm going to kill him" she muttered as they stopped kissing and Jude laughed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey Sawyer" she distantly heard on her morning run, this happened a lot to Sawyer, she was constantly complaining that she would hear her name in a crowded room but the voice belonged to no one, her dad had joked that it was because Sawyer Scott thought that the universe orbited around her, for that hilarious comment she had given him a pity laugh. However this time when she turned around to check that she was just hearing things again, she say the boy running up behind her. Sawyer stopped in her tracks, pulled her I-pod earphones out and smiled

"Noah" she greeted him as he stopped in front of her

"I don't want to keep you up, I just wanted to apologise" he said as he attempted to catch his breath, Sawyer wondered how long he had been chasing her down for

"Why?"

"I have this nagging feeling that I interrupted a date last night" he bit his bottom lip

"Yeah sort of" she wiped the sweat off her forehead as he tried to hide his disappointment "Although you kind of saved me, Once we finally got to talking he was actually quite boring, all he talked about was how much he could bench press"

"Really?" Noah laughed as Sawyer nodded

"He kept going on about how he could 'totally,'" she mocked "Lift a car off a baby without the adrenalin rush" she scoffed "So I really should be thanking you" she smiled as he laughed again

"Anytime you need me, I'm here" he internally kicked himself for being so dorky "Anyway, I better leave you to your run" he said with a wave "I'll see you at school Sawyer Scott" he said before taking off, she watched him walk away for a second before something inside of her sprang to the surface "NOAH" she yelled and he hastily turned around, looking at her with such intent eyes "Do you want to walk home with me?" the moment the words had left her lips, Noah bounded back towards her, practically tripping over his own feet in an attempt to get back to her side.

"I would like that" he said with one more shine of his smile

End of Chapter

**Authors Note** : Love is in the air, do do do do do do, Love is in the airrrrrrr


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

His heart pounded heavily in his chest as his feet made their way across the hardwood floor, his steps echoed across the basketball court as he sprinted across the court. He was trying to ignore the fact that the rest of the team was sitting on the edge of the court, catching their breath and talking – he wondered if it were about him but he didn't really care. He made it over the line at the opposite side of the court just a mere nanosecond after the timer that his coach set had gone off and his hands went on top of his head in frustration.

"Not good enough. Go again Marcus" his coach yelled across to him as he felt anger rise up in his chest, his lungs and legs were burning and he was drenched in his own sweat

"This is such a double standard" he snapped as the gym went quite and everyone turned to face the commotion that Marcus was attempting to create between himself and the coach – Lucas looked up from his clipboard confused "why doesn't Noah have to do the extra laps?"

"Because he made it across the line under the time limit?" Lucas continued to look at him perplexed

"That's crap! Stop pretending that this isn't about some personal grudge you have got going against me cause of my relationship with Sawyer and in that case shouldn't you also punishing Noah? You know, since he was making out with your daughter at that party Lydia had the other weekend" Noah went bright red as Lucas turned to look at Jude who gulped when eye contact was made

"Party at Lydia's?" his eyebrows quirked

"I'm warning you coach Scott, stop this preferential treatment or you will be losing your best player" Lucas sighed

"Okay, everyone gather around" the team complied and slowly gathered their sweaty bodies around him, Marcus remained still but Lucas continued "Let me make this very clear, I'm well aware that you were all born with skill, that is why you are on this team. But skill only goes so far; it takes hard work, dedication, and persistence but most importantly it's about learning and adapting to play as part of a team. Cause let me break it to you guys, this is a team sport, you can only carry yourself so far and let's face it you are only as good as your team. I know that I am limited to three 'in the good old days' speeches per week and I've done my quota, but let me reassure you that I've seen team after team play and ultimately if you cant be part of the team your career in this line of work WILL be short lived" he gave one final look to the boys around the court before dismissing the rest of the team and walking towards Marcus "I'm not pushing you any harder than I push any of the other boys and I'm not pushing you any harder than Coach Whitey pushed me when I was in the same position that you were in. Now I have no doubt that you are talented and I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt today Marcus and put this little spat today down as a once off but believe me if you answer me back again or question my coaching I will not hesitate to cut you from this team no matter how superior you think your basketball skills are" he took two steps forward and then paused "And don't you ever bring my daughter up with me again. Hit the showers"

X-x-x-x-x-x

It took Davis three times to get into his locker that morning, he put it down to the lack of sleep the night before, he and his brother that played the incredibly intelligent game of "I get to punch you really hard in the arm three times if you are the first one to fall asleep", he also put it down to the inability to lift his right arm. As he finally pried the locker door open he caught a glimpse of something that he swore he was making up. His sheepish grin was soon turned to Sawyer who stopped next to his locker as she usually did every morning "Sawy-Berry" he said as he reached into his locker and pulled out the cd that she had leant him the week before. It was the lively conversation between two of the juniors behind him that made him turn around however it was the second glimpse that caused the most interest "I know that I am wildly attractive and girls have a hard time keeping their clothes on when around me, but did your cheerleader friend just wink at me?"

Sawyer laughed, turning slightly, facing the person that she had suspected it would be "Oh that" she said as Davis' looked at her intently " I meant to nip that in the bud when you met Ava"

"Nip it in the bud? What are you on about Sawyer?"

"Remember how we had that conversation a couple of months ago about how I was going to be your wingman and use my superior wingman powers to set you up with a friend of mine?"

Davis took a moment to think back "Vaguely"

"Yeah well, that's my friend. I sort of told her that you had potentially expressed interest in her and that you wouldn't say no to a cheeky date and well she sort of admitted to finding you weirdly attractive, then I promised her that I would talk to you and try and set something up and here we are now"

"But I met Ava"

"Yeah I know, and I was supposed to tell her that, but her parents whisked her away to some convention and I hadn't had a chance to talk to her yet" Davis resisted the urge to hit his head against a locker in frustration

"Please Sawyer, could you try and sort this out before my date with Ava tomorrow night, the last thing I need is to look like a ladies man stringing on a whole bunch of girls at the one time" Sawyer resisted the urge to laugh

"I thought the first date was Saturday night?" she asked

"Ava has to report the Ravens game with it being so close to finals now, so we changed it the Friday, Do you know how hard it is to change reservations? No one ever tells you that," he said almost flustered as he shut his locker door and they headed up the hallway.

X-x-x-x-x-x

The knock on her bedroom door sounded three times, at first she assumed that it was a younger sibling and barked at the closed door in a way that she had sworn never to do when she was younger when her older brother had done it to her, secondly she assumed that is was a friend, but on closer thought she remembered that any friend that her parents would let wander through their home to her bedroom door was usually comfortable enough to open the door the second their hands hit the wood. On the third knock, Lydia full of confusion stood up from her position on the floor next to her bed and began to walk over, it was all eerily weird, she found herself hesitant to actually open the door, instead she was like every air head in the horror movies who stood facing the door asking "who is it?" hoping that the person who came to kill her would reveal their true identity in order to get access to the room. She reminded herself to never let Jude hire a scary movie again.

"Bonjour" the voice on the other side of the door bellowed, a hint of amusement on his voice, Lydia recognized who it was, or more accurately assumed by the greeting he had chosen and threw the door open.

"MITCH" she exclaimed as she threw herself into her newly claimed cousins arms, of course they had only really met once at the wedding of her aunt Taylor to his father Tom Henry, however the stay had been an extensive one with the whole family staying in their home to plan, prep and do the wedding before Mitch and his sister Felicity flew odd to be with their mother in France for a month. Despite this long distance between the new found friends/cousins, Lydia and Mitch has managed to keep in contact, exchanging emails that explained the mundane activities that had accumulated their lives - hers mainly consisted of Jude and his mainly consisted of croissants. "When did you get back? What are you doing here?" His presence was a big shock, she hadn't known that he was back in America and there was no mention of visiting tree hill in his last email.

"Flew back in a couple of nights ago, was going to send an email when I got home but between jet lag and trying to surprise you there wasn't much point" he laughed " dad had some senatorial thing to do and Tay wanted to some up and see Quinn and Haley before she had to join him on the campaign trail. Felicity decided that she wanted to go with dad, being away from him really took its toll on her after a while and I decided that I was going to come an spend time with my favorite new cousins" his smile remained constant throughout his whole explanation of the details that had lead him to be there standing at her bedroom door this late afternoon.

"That's great," she said with a smile as she got down off her tippy-toes and secretly wondered why she hadn't got her fathers height in the genetic lottery "how long are you here for?"

"Just a few days" he said in response, whilst they knew they were friends, most of their correspondence had been over text and emails, this face to face talking thing was seeming a tad more awkward than she remembered, but she was sure that once they got into the swing of things it would improve "well come on then, Tay is downstairs and wouldn't shut up about how excited she was to see you all the whole flight here" his cheeky smile shone "on the way down you can tell me all about life in the hill? Not that it seems to have changed much since I left" he nudged her and whilst she knew he was trying to remain cool she knew deep down that all he really wanted to know was about Sawyer.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Come on old man keep up" Chuck yelled back at Jamie as they ran across the boardwalk, he knew that asking Chuck to be his training buddy was going to be a bade idea the second that the words came out of his mouth

"Dude" he panted " you are two months older than me" he doubted that Chuck could even hear him through the large space left between them and with the words being caught up in Jamie's restless breathing. He just had to make it to the picnic that Lily had set up at the end of the pier, despite that fact that he could now see the pier and was close to the finishing line, he couldn't fight the feeling in the back of his throat, he needed water and he needed it now, he didn't care if chuck would ridicule him for the test of time, it would be totally worth it. He lifted the water bottle that was in his left hand and died a little inside at the sight of an empty cartridge, he could've cried, however like magic a water fountain appeared out of nowhere and he silently wondered if it was just his dehydrated mind playing a cruel joke on him, as he staggered closer he knew that the fantasy was actually a reality and quickly unscrewed the lid of his bottle before filling it to the brim and taking a sip, he went to turn around to see how far ahead Chuck was, he was well aware that he was probably well an truly at the pier eating everything that he could get his hands on leaving Jamie with nothing. However Jamie's path was blocked, as he turned he ran directly into this brunette girl, bumping her backwards and subsequently spilled the contents of his water bottle all over her "OH CRAP!" He said looking down at the massive drooping section of her drenched t-shirt.

"I'm glad that I didn't wear the white one today" she joked, a tone of humility as she too looked down at her shirt

"I am so sorry!" He said looking up at the girl

"Don't worry about it" she said realizing that there was no way to salvage it, other than to wait for it to dry, she looked up at him and he was suddenly hit by the pressure of her gorgeous eyes

"No I should've screwed the lid on before I turned around" he gulped taken in by her beauty "it's my fault"

"I should have not been such a klutz and I definitely shouldn't have been standing so close to you" it was as though she was taking in the sight of him as well. He wasn't bad looking after all. He still had the dandy blonde hair that had been passed down from Lucas, his eight and physique acquired from his father, the delicate facial features of his mother with a rugged edge and straight white teeth courtesy of the dentist "it's my fault"

"Let's agree to disagree," he said with his famous smile, he was beginning to think that the love gods had orchestrated this horrid yet surprisingly pleasant situation to get him out of his love funk.

"Agreed" she smiled back " I would say that it was lovely to meet you" she said as she went to walk off " but if I hadn't my shirt wouldn't be see through right now"

Jamie laughed before realizing that the girl of his dreams and his chance of scoring a date with her was disappearing almost instantly

"Wait" he yelled, she turned around instantly making Jamie think that maybe, just maybe she was waiting for him to interrupt her "We need to switch information" she looked at him with a suspicious look but took a few steps forward "I mean what if you get really sick from wearing that wet t-shirt around and have to spend a year in hospital, your bills get so big that you end up having to seek a kidney? I wouldn't be able to love with self if I couldn't help you out in some small way"

"Oh I never thought of it like that, better swap information" she tried to hide her grin but it dismally failed

"Well I'm Jamie Scott, from Tree Hill originally but now I live just over there" he pointed obscurely off into the distance in the direction of the apartment complex that they lived in, although it wasn't really relevant to the situation "Give me your phone and I'll program myself into it" she handed it to him, he keyed in his number and passed it back "and you are? You know just in case I get a phone call about you being in a coma and need to remember whom you are. Not that I make a habit out of spilling water on people in the park"

"Sienna" she gulped "Nice to meet you Jamie Scott" she said before walking off

"Be sure to call me if you need anything" he yelled after her. He watched sienna leave the park before he turned back around and filled his water bottle up, took another sip before taking his sheepish looking grin up towards the pier.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"I'm sorry we don't have a reservation under that name" the maître d' said looking up from his black book of reservations, a sympathetic look crossing his face as he looked at Davis, who must have obviously looked like a nervous sweaty palmed wreck on his first date with Ava, A look that this man must have seen many times before. Davis gulped, this date just wasn't turning out how he had expected it or wanted it to go. It was picture perfect when he picked up the gorgeous girl from her home, he exchange charming conversation and comedic wit with Ava's father that he would undoubtedly boast about for years to come. It was picture perfect as they walked down the boardwalk to his favourite restaurant, hands accidentally brushing up against each other and they awkwardly grasped hands but after that it had all gone downhill like a storm had hit. As quickly as her hand had grasped his it let go as she attempted to stabilise herself when the heel of her shoe became dislodged from the shoe itself. She had laughed it off and made him like her even more than he thought possible, then the wind picked up, making their pleasant stroll a battle to take each step and now the reservation he made a week ago wasn't actually there, he was devastated.

"Are you sure? It's Baker, Davis Baker!" he was getting flustered and frustrated "I made this reservation last week" the man looked up and shook his head "I'm so sorry about this" Davis said turning to Ava

"It's fine" she smiled up at him, despite the unconventional first date she was proving very resistant "Is there anyway for us to get a table sir?" she smiled

"We are pretty busy tonight, busiest day of the week – we usually recommend booking," she laughed at Davis' exasperated sigh behind her

"How long of a wait?"

"We might have a table for you in half an hour, but that's only a might"

Ava looked at Davis and shrugged her shoulders "Then we will wait" she said grabbing his hand and leading him towards a bench seat towards the front of the restaurant

"I am so sorry about this Ava, I swear that I made that reservation and now I am blowing our first date"

"It's just a road block" for the first time he noticed the dimple that appeared on the right side of her face when she smiled

"So your dad seems pretty cool" he gulped

"Yeah he thinks he is pretty cool too" she laughed

"Tell me about your family" he wasn't going to let this date go to waste

"Well I'm one of four and the only girl. I'm the youngest and so my parents didn't really know how to raise a girl, I was just one of the boys. It's just my parents and me now, my last brother moved out just after we moved here. How about you?"

"Well, sibling wise it's just me, Jude and our foster sister Sam. Sammy is off living her own life, she moved out before we were even born but we still see her a lot, she lives like twenty minutes out of town with her husband Jack and their baby Nelly. Then there is just Jude but you've met him."

"What about your parents?"

"My dad's name is Julian and my mum is Brooke and…" he caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye and his gaze shifter "They are over there" she turned sharply to find the brunette pair waving at them – she knew without conformation that it was them by the mans smile that directly complemented Davis' and the woman whose direct beauty mirrored off on both the boy sitting with her on the bench seat and the boy across the restaurant with a smirk on his face. "What are you doing here?" he whispered coarsely as they made their way over

"We ordered some dinner" his mum shot back at him with a glance that questioned his tone "You know babe, Mario's get's really busy on a Friday night, you should have booked"

"I did!" he said between gritted teeth "Are you determined to embarrass me?"

"You didn't tell us that you were coming here," she said as Jude laughed behind her before walking away from the group "Now aren't you going to be polite and introduce us to this beautiful girl over here?"

"Ava" he said taking her hand so she could stand up "This is my mum and dad. Mum and Dad this is Ava"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ava" Brooke smiled

"You know Davis can't stop talking about you" Julian added

"Wow what's that guys your order is done and you have to leave now before it gets cold? What a shame. Oh well guess that I will see you at home" he said as Jude walked over with the bag full of take-away

"Lovely to meet you Ava" Brooke said with a wave as they all headed out the door, leaving Ava and Davis to sit back down

"Your parents seem lovely," she said after a moment of silence

"They aren't bad," he said with a smirk as the maître d' walked over towards them

"Excuse me Mr Baker, I looked over the books again and there still isn't a Baker on the list but there is a Barker for two. Is this your number?" he asked pointing down to the confirmation number column of the binder and laughing

"Yes it is"

"Someone must have written your name down wrong, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. How about you follow me to your table" and that was it, his night was finally turning around, it was finally going in the right direction "Because of the mix-up we are happy to offer you free breadsticks" as the maître d' directed them to the table and Davis pulled the seat out for Ava, a wail came from above them and the sprinklers went off.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Jamie paced the length of the kitchen bench – back, forth then back again – with an intense, unbreakable gaze at his phone located in the middle. His eyes pleading that it would ring "Is he still staring at that thing?" Lily said as she walked into the kitchen, towards the fridge and grabbed two beers one for herself and one for Chuck before joining him on the other side of the bench.

"Mhmmm" he said opening the beer "It's getting pretty sad" Jamie had explained the whole park incident to Lily and Chuck when he had finally made it to the pier and then proceeded to obsess about every inch of it for the rest of the afternoon. Whilst Lily had listened intently trying to hide the fact that in her mind she was reorganising her budget to buy a new pair of shoes and trying to reorganise her calendar to fit in a trip home, Chuck was left baffled by the fact that Jamie had effectively started a wet t-shirt competition and hadn't invited him along to join.

"She is going to call," he said as he embarked on his thousandth trip

"I don't want to be the one to point this out…." Lily started

"I'll do it! You poured water down her front, she isn't calling you" whilst she would have worded it slightly different, the message he conveyed was so similar that she couldn't help but turn to face him, as he did the same she swore that she saw something in his eye and felt something within herself that she just wasn't capable of addressing or comprehending at that very minute

"It was destiny" Chuck sighed loudly and rolled his eyes as Lily laughed next to him and Jamie continued to walk.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Who would have thought that a conversation would be so hard to start, she sat across from her cousin via marriage in the living room of her home. Everyone else was out and she knew that if she was going to have this conversation that now was the perfect opportunity to have it – at a time when the walls didn't have ears – although the words would not form. Every five minutes she would talk herself into it, and then just as she would sit forward to ask him she would lose her nerve and press herself back up against the couch. "What is it Lydia?" apparently she hadn't been as subtle as she thought she was being.

"Can I ask you an awkward question? One that can never be mentioned to a single soul?"

"Of course" Mitch said as he put his book down on the coffee table and gave his cousin his undivided attention "Shoot"

"Ahh no! I think you are going to need to be looking away and not directly at me for me to bring this up" he smiled, sighed and averted his gaze elsewhere "So how do you know if you are ready to have sex?" a startled look crossed over his face as he briefly forgot the 'don't look at me' rule and gulped

"I don't know, you just know"

"Great advice" she said sarcastically

"I'm really not good at this sort of stuff" now his gaze was permanently stuck to the roof "Am I really the person you want to ask?"

"Who else am I supposed to ask? Anytime I bring up this sort of stuff with mum she spurts out that I should wait for marriage like she did and I have to remind her that she got married at sixteen so that's pretty hypocritical. If I brought it up with dad, I would be locked in a tower and Jude would suspiciously disappear – same goes for Jamie and any other older male relation in my life. Sawyer gets way too excited and involved when I tell her stuff like this, Jude is Davis' brother and there concludes the list of possible people that I could ask. What makes it worse is that Aunty Brooke sat Sawyer and I down once and told us that we could always come and talk to her about this sort of stuff but I really cant go to the mother of the boy that I want to have sex with to get sex advice from now can I? So yes you are the only person that I can ask about this. With the added bonus that in two days you leave Tree Hill and our main source of communication is email where I can strategically avoid any mention of this conversation at all."

"Okay listen to me" he said putting a hand on her hand but still maintaining eye contact with the light fixtures, Lydia would have found it comical if she wasn't up for a serious conversation "I know that it is super cliché but you will know when the timing is right, people say its not a big deal but it is and you need to treat it that way. Make sure it is with someone that adores you, someone that instils a burning passion in you but also provides you with great comfort. People say that trying to make it a perfect romantic moment is overrated but it's kind of underrated, I mean don't get all pedantic about the details because they will never live up to your expectations but make it a positive experience. This is one of those moments that get's taken away from people when everyone gets swept up in the moment; make it your own Lydia. You don't know what is going to happen in the next five years but if you follow this advice, I promise that when you look back to the defining moments of your life you will not only be happy with the decision that you made but proud of yourself for making them."

"Thanks Mitch" she said with a smile as she squeezed his hand

"I feel like Oprah"

X-x-x-x-x-x

That was it, date night was over and Davis had reached a Charlie Brown level of depressed. They walked up the path towards her front door and with each step his stomach dropped just a little bit more. He had wanted it to be perfect and now he couldn't shake the feeling that he had been a disappointment and that she was never going to want to go on a date with him again, maybe he should call Sawyer and tell her not to talk to her keen cheer friend – since he predicted he would soon be back on the market. They both stopped and turned to face each other when they reached the door, standing in silence. After taking a moment to calm himself and process it all broke it "I'm so sorry that the date went so horribly! With the shoe breaking, the wind, our reservation being under Barker not Baker, having to meet my parents, the sprinklers going off and the bad burgers from the cart on the pier that we had to have for dinner. I promise that I will make it up to you" he gulped "How about I keep you company tomorrow night at the game?" he wasn't giving up without a fight

"That would be lovely" she beamed up at him "Although Davis, tonight wasn't as disastrous as you think it was, it certainly wasn't a first and I wont be forgetting it anytime soon but I like having adventures with you" she said before taking a step towards him, standing on her tiptoes and planting a kiss on his lips "Goodnight Davis Baker"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"LETS GO RAVENS LETS GO" The cheer squad screamed over the noise of the feet hitting the court and the crowd gathered in the grandstand. It was a tough game, however the Ravens were ahead by two goals. Marcus had the ball and was dribbling it up the court; he threw it to Jude who threw it back to him, as he got further down the court and towards their hoop. The whole gym went silent waiting for him to make his next move. He threw the ball towards the hoops and everything went in slow motion before swishing into the basket. Everyone screamed, including Sawyer. Marcus must have been watching Sawyer because as he ran past her he winked at her. She didn't know what it was – maybe it was that his smirk never left his face – but she found herself irrationally mad and without any input from her brain she found herself screaming "GO NOAH" much to the shock of everyone around her, Lydia turned and looked at her – she couldn't see it but she could feel it, however she could definitely see the confused looks on both her father and Noah's face. A look that would have been held for longer if Marcus hadn't pelted the ball at Noah's head – hitting him so hard that he was thrown backwards, landing heavily on the ground. The whole crowd gasped and Sawyer was frozen, she can hear her father screaming but she can't understand what he is saying, all she knows is that Marcus has been sent off the court and he was now helping Noah up with the medic on the other side of the dazed boy who they direct onto the side of the court. Lucas looks around, locates and points to Sawyer signalling for her to come over to him and her feet are taking her over there before she can even think about it "Take him to the locker room and put some ice on it" She leaves with the instruction to keep an eye on him and call the medic if anything seems wrong. All she can hear as he leans on her shoulder and she leads him off the court is an outraged crowd and a screaming Marcus yelling "HIS EYES WERENT ON THE BALL" with a chorus of "IT WASN'T MY FAULT"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Sit down" she said pushing him slightly backwards so that he firmly sat on the wooden seat between the two lines of lockers before leaning down quite close to his face to assess his injuries, she then stepped away wetting a cloth that she had found in the first-aid kit

"I've never been in the girls locker room before" he said curiously looking around as she walked back over with a smile

"I didn't want to have to clean you up with a dirty jock step or a banana peel," Sawyer said as she began to dab away at the dried blood

"Hey" he mocked insult

"Are you going to tell me in all honesty that that isn't a pretty accurate inventory of what is in your locker right now?" he started to laugh before his face went tight and his hand went to his split lip "I'm going to go grab an icepack from the medic" Sawyer went to walk away but Noah caught her hand

"What was that all about Sawyer?"

" I don't know" Noah looked at her as though he doubted the answer "I think that I was trying to make Marcus jealous" she said putting her head in her hands, Noah grabbed her elbow and guided her to the seat next to him

"Do you still like him?"

"No. I can promise you that that is not what's going on here" Sawyer's head came out from her hands and looked into Noah's green eyes "I just don't think that I have closure, but its getting better. You are making it better" she smiled

"Do you like me?"

"I do" she gulped "I didn't know until today but I do. When you hit the ground today, my heart stopped and all I could think was 'Great Sawyer now you've gone and done it, you've got the boy that you haven't been able to stop thinking about since you kissed him at that party killed'"

"I'm not dead yet" he smiled at her

"No but I've gone ahead and inserted us both into the exact Rom-com that we saw the other night?"

"What?" he said as she stood up realising that her dad had sent her in to the locker room with Noah to fix him up

"This situation is an exact play by play of the movie the other night"

"What movie?"

"The date of mine that you crashed? Can you seriously not remember it? That ball must have hit you pretty hard"

"In all honesty" Noah put his hand up to the hand of hers that rested on his face "I wasn't really paying attention to the movie, I was more interested in the hand on your shoulder" Sawyer laughed before falling silent, they maintained eye contact until Sawyer felt her cheeks go red and looked down towards the ground. Noah leant up to bridge the gap between the lips from his sitting position and Sawyer's standing, from there they locked lips for the first time since Sawyer had walked over and launched herself at him at Lydia's house weeks ago.

"WE WON…OH" Jude said as he stormed into the girl's locker room all sweaty, a impressed look on his face as a flustered Sawyer pulled away from Noah "I brought you an ice-pack, but Sawyer looks like she is using alternative methods of pain relief"

"Shut up Jude," they said in unison

"I hate to break up the make out party" he smugly smiled "But your dad is on his way in Sawy-berry"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"HE WHAT?" Mitch asked Lydia furiously, he hadn't been able to understand what was going on when the whole ball at face scenario went down, now she had to explain the whole thing and for contextual reasons she had to explain the whole Marcus and Sawyer relationship which hadn't exactly filled either of them with joy

"Keep you voice down, Sawyer is a tough cookie she is getting over it all" and that was it she could see that these words had in some way calmed him down, that was until Marcus walked past and Mitch stormed into action

"You touch her again and I will kill you," he yelled as he walked up to Marcus

"Who the hell are you?" the startled and already aggravated Marcus spat back

"Mitch come on it's not worth it" Lydia said trying to pull him back

"Yeah listen to the little girl"

"You are a disgusting pig!" he spat back as more and more people piled out of the gym standing around the erupting fight. Sawyer and Jude who had left Noah in the capable hands of Lucas and the medic pushed their way through the hoards of people in the direction of the loud voices to find Mitch and Marcus in each others faces and pushing each other. Lydia was trying to stop it but Davis – who has left Ava standing further away – grabs onto Lydia's hand and drags her away.

"STOP" Sawyer screamed at the top of her lungs as she approached the two boys however neither of them stopped to listen so she ducks down and inserts herself between the two which at least forces the two to back away slightly

"What are you doing Sawyer?" Mitch asked his face flaming red "He treated you like crap"

"He isn't worth it"

"What?" Marcus yells over her shoulder clearly not satisfied with the resolution that his fight was facing "Are you worried that I'll knock out both of your boyfriends in the one night?" Sawyer took a deep breath and maintained her focus on Mitch

"He isn't worth it" she repeated as Marcus laughed behind her and back away

"SLUT" he yelled at her, she turned around to his smug face and punched him HARD in the nose

X-x-x-x-x

Jamie sat in his bedroom he had just finished watching the online broadcast of the Ravens game and was now tapping away to the music blaring from his stereo. Between the beats he could here the distinct sound of his ringtone, turned the music down and answered without looking at caller Id. It had been half an hour since the game had ended and he still hadn't received an official Lydia Scott recount of that nights shenanigans and he knew that she was going to have a lot to say.

"Took you long enough" he said before sitting up startled as the voice on the other end of the phone didn't match his little sisters "Sienna" Jamie smiled, he knew that she was going to call him eventually "Sorry I thought you were my sister. How are you doing? Fighting hypothermia?"

**End of Chapter**

***Authors Note*  
>Hi guys sorry about the looooooooong wait! This isn't my best writing I just needed to get this out there, I've had half of the chapter done for a long time and for my own sanity I needed to get the second half down quick stat. I hope you enjoyed it, please read and review <strong>


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